The Boston Celtics need to turn things around against a surprising Indiana Pacers team
The Boston Celtics have hit their first rough patch of the season since they went on the most remarkable win streak of the year. It has not been a total disaster, but the Celtics are 3-3 in their last six, and have not been able to string multiple wins together.
One issue during this stretch has also been the schedule. They have already had two sets of back to backs and they are about to start a stretch of three games in four nights. There have not been playing their best, and they have not had an opportunity to get to practice to fix the issues.
The biggest problem is that they have been losing games they should win every time. They have not been handling the opponents they should beat every time, and their biggest challenge comes tonight. Thankfully they have some rest, but the Indiana Pacers are going to be the biggest challenge by the time they get past this brutal stretch.
The Pacers are one of the bigger surprises in the league right now, and have their sights set on doing some damage in the playoffs. The main reason the Pacers need to be taken seriously this season is Victor Oladipo. People thought the Pacers were fleeced in the Paul George trade, but Oladipo is making it look like a stroke of genius right now.
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The Pacers are an inspired team, and the players have come together in a way that very few saw coming. They have a solid young core, and even if Myles Turner has not made the leap may were asking for, he will also cause a lot of problems for the Celtics.
The Celtics do not have much traditional size, and Turner has the ability to force the Celtics out of the small ball they love so much. How much of an impact Turner can actually have should play the biggest role in determining how they game will be played on both ends.
The Pacers have also been a well functioning offense, and the Celtics defense has not been playing well enough to slow them down. Oladipo is the biggest focus, but they move the ball well with the 11st most assists per game in the league, and are a top 10 overall scoring team. The Celtics felt good about their defense against the Grizzlies, but the Pacers are a much more difficult team to shut down.
The Celtics know that they should be the favorites in this game, and if they play solid on both ends, that will be enough to win. The problem is that they have not been finding balance during this stretch, and it will take one of their best offensive performance of the season to win if their defense does not get back on track.
The Celtics have players they are comfortable guarding Oladipo, but that cannot be everything. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown should be able to slow down the primary option, but the question marks are around the rest of the defense right now. The second unit bigs need to be able to stay on the court and allow the Celtics to play the versatility that they love so much.
The Pacers are also going to come into this game knowing they can get their statement Eastern Conference win while the Celtics are weakened. They are going to come in as focused and motivated as they have been all season, and the Celtics are not playing well enough to lack that kind of intensity.
During the winning streak, the Celtics created a playoff like atmosphere for each game. The Pacers are good enough team in the East that they need to be able to bring that same kind of intensity. If the Celtics are getting those effort plays and are making it as difficult as possible for the Pacers to get an extra edge.
The Cavaliers and the Raptors are creeping up on the Celtics in the standings, and now that they have thrown away some of the easier games, they need to make sure they show up for the more difficult ones. It makes all the difference in the world to win the easy games when going for that top seed, because the only way to make up for that is by stealing a win form a better opponent.
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Right now, this would definitely not be considered a steal of a win for the Celtics, but it would be the indication that the worst stretch of the season is over.