Boston Celtics Depth Pushed Past the Limit Against the Pacers
Boston’s depth could not quite overcome all the injuries against the Indiana Pacers
The Boston Celtics were seeing their second unit play in a way that they had never seen before the All Star break, and it was leading to their most consistent performances. They were leaning on their top players less than ever, and everything was functioning incredibly well on both ends. The Celtics were showing the league the kind of depth they had, giving them a special edge at all times.
The Celtics even managed to survive that game with Kyrie Irving sidelined, without really feeling any of the ramifications. The Celtics quickly learned how important their depth is going to be, and how good they can be at getting through injuries.
Then, their game against the Indiana Pacers came around, and it was a different story. The Celtics knew they would be without Jaylen Brown, who entered the concussion protocol. Then they announced that Al Horford was going to miss the game. Finally, Irving was absent form the second half because of his knee soreness.
The Celtics had almost their entire starting lineup on the sidelines, and they officially hit the breaking point. Somehow, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier put together special enough performances to keep the game close, but they were not where they needed to be to win the game, and just getting that chance to win at the end should feel good.
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While the injuries themselves are troubling for the Celtics, because they need these players on the court, there is not much else negative they can take from this. The Pacers are a top team in the East right now, and no team that endured the injuries the Celtics did should be beating any top team at any time.
The Celtics showed how much they will fight no matter what, and will continue to feel great about their depth, even if it could not quite overcome everything that happened against the Pacers. Right now, the Celtics know they cannot make up for this many guys being down, but they may have gained even more confidence in their ability to overcome a reasonable amount of injuries.
The Celtics are also going to need their depth to continue to play this way, because you cannot expect them to be back at full strength immediately. Hopefully Horford will be able to come back right away, but Brown is expected to miss a lot more time, and Irving is going to take all the time he needs to deal with the knee soreness.
The Celtics could be without two of their best players for a little while here, and that is not what teams want to see when they are looking for their final playoff push. The Celtics are in a position where moving up or down in the standings is looking less and less likely, so there is less pressure to win right now. That being said, the Celtics still need their top unit to get more comfortable together, and it is impossible to do that with both Irving and Brown sidelined.
It will be exciting to see how well Boston’s depth will be able to hold things together, and if it allows some of these secondary players to really come into an impactful role, then this time can be valuable. For now, the Celtics are not going to be thinking about the number one seed and have a great cushion over the number three seed.
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The Celtics certainly have bigger goals for the season, but right now things are shifting to making sure they can maintain their high functioning play, and have that depth come into the kind of form that will transform what this team can do in the playoffs.