Boston Celtics Need Stability

The Boston Celtics have had some terrible moments in these last two playoff games but the start to game two was the absolute bottom. Brad Stevens, forced to find a way to make a rotation work without both Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk, tried literally every single option in the first quarter. The Celtics needed to adjust to how dominant the Atlanta Hawks were but they were never able to settle into anything successful.

Stevens will continue to be creative with his lineups but the Celtics need to find something that works well enough to give them stability. The rotation will be different but the Celtics need to be able to settle into a core and all of that begins with Isaiah Thomas. Defense was not an issue in game two. In fact, the Celtics did a phenomenal job after the first half of the first quarter. Unfortunately, they never had enough offensive success for Stevens to stick with a particular lineup.

Now that they have had that game to test of all their options, it is time for the Celtics to get back to playing in rhythm and Thomas has to be the one to step up and give the Celtics consistent and reliable contributions on the offensive end, both passing and scoring the ball. The Celtics can’t hope to miraculously become a strong shooting team. They do, however, have to find a way to get the opportunities that made them one of the highest scoring teams in the league.

The Celtics need every single player on the team to improve on the offensive end from game two and Thomas needs to be the one that gets himself, and his teammates going. The Celtics have now had two games to find a way to get through the dominant Hawks defense and now they need to find a way to get results on the offensive end.

If the Celtics can find some sort of offensive stability then they have been playing good enough defense to protect their home court and turn this into a three game series. The problem has been that after losing both Bradley and Olynyk, the Celtics were left with very few reliable offense players. Thats where Crowder and Thomas need to come in, who both had two of their worst games of the season in game two.

The Celtics have struggled shooting this season but they have been able to look to Thomas to create at all times, and Crowder has been a knock down three point shooter. In game two neither Crowder nor Thomas were able to establish themselves on offense and Stevens was forced to look to other options. Turner and Johnson had their moments but the Celtics never got back to their game on offense.

The Celtics need to be able to get that reliable production, particularly from Thomas, in order for Stevens to be able to stick with a more consistent rotation. The Celtics will get their home court advantage back and that needs to be the boost that gets Thomas back to playing the way he did during the regular season.

The Hawks have eliminated any kind of paint production with their incredible interior advantage over the Celtics but they need to find a way to get around that. Hitting jump shots will be inevitable for the Celtics and Thomas needs to be the one that makes sure everyone is getting a quality look. The Hawks have proven that their defense will crush the Celtics if they do not move the ball well and get wide open looks (of course the wide open looks made no difference in game two anyways).

The good news for the Celtics is that their defense still came to play in game two. They still have the stability they need on defense but Stevens simply cannot settle until he finds a lineup that is producing. If Thomas is able to get going and the few reliable shooters left and able to hit their open shots, then the Celtics can regain some of the stability that will certainly help their game flow.

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The Celtics do not have the talent to beat the Hawks as individuals and they need some sort of consistency in their rotation to be at their best on offense. The offensive responsibility falls largely on Thomas but the Celtics are going to need to get shot making from some unfamiliar places if they are going to be able to defend their home court.