2022 is filled with optimism for the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics ended 2021 on a high note when they defeated the Phoenix Suns (one of the best teams in the NBA) rather convincingly to close out the calendar year. This gave their fans a glimpse of optimism heading into 2022

Everything worked out great for the Celtics in the last game of the year. A big contributor to that was having Marcus Smart back on the court, as the team ran more smoothly with him directing the floor from his not-so-natural point guard position.

The Boston Celtics defeated one of the best teams in the league this season to close out the calendar year, bringing much optimism heading into 2022

Smart scored the first basket of the game and went on to finish with 24 points on 10 made shots along with nine rebounds in 39 minutes. Having Smart back on the court gave the Celtics an additional player on the court that the opposing defense needed to respect.

In doing so, you could see how much that helps a guy like Jaylen Brown who’s struggled since Jayson Tatum has been in health and safety protocols.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, they don’t have many threatening players on the floor right now, which impacts spacing and how a team plays defense against them. It’s become evident that when one of the core players of Tatum, Brown, Smart, or Robert Williams misses a game, the team doesn’t operate right.

It’s worth mentioning that Williams took control of this game for the Celtics. The big man finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists for his first career triple-double. He also added five blocks and was a perfect 100 percent on the night, making him the first in NBA history record that statline.

The next element that propelled the Boston Celtics in this game was bench production. The three-man bench rotation of Payton Pritchard, Josh Richardson, and Romeo Langford scored 46 points, shooting 15-for-24 from the field and 7-for-12 from deep. The bench performed the best it has all season despite only using three players.

Even though the Celtics just took down one of the best teams in the NBA this season, there’s still a major flaw that is concerning with this team – there is no consistent three-point shooting. Boston made 10 three-pointers, however, seven of them came from the bench.

As a team, Boston is shooting 33.3 percent from behind the arc this season, ranking near the bottom of the league (seventh-worst).

There’s still some upgrading for Brad Stevens to do by the trade deadline. The lack of three-point shooting seems like a great place for Stevens to start.

The team needs to surround Tatum and Brown with threatening players who, with just the presence of them on the court, need to be respected by the defense.

Overall, this was a beautiful win from a puzzled team trying to get back on track as best as they can while their best player is in health and safety protocols.

If I had to make a New Year’s prediction for the C’s, I’d probably say that with perfect health, this team is only a piece or two away from being a true contender, and I think Stevens will finish the puzzle.