The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: A Look Back on the Celtics 2018-19 Regular Season

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: A Look Back on the Boston Celtics 2018-19 Regular Season.

As Forrest Gump famously said, “The Boston Celtics are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gunna get.” Or something like that. If the Celtics season had to be described in one word, it would be inconsistent. On some nights, Boston looks like they can challenge for the NBA Finals. On others however, the team looks like they can be just another one-and-done team in the playoffs, possibly even getting upset by a lower seed.

Just as the team has gone back and forth from contender to pretender, the supposed chemistry on the team has done the same. Fans have seen countless alley-oop passes from Marcus Smart to Al Horford and team embraces after big shots and clutch plays. With that, fans have also seen Kyrie Irving get noticeably frustrated after not getting the ball on final possessions and heard his comments throwing younger teammates under the bus.

In a season full of inconsistencies, here are some of the Celtics most notable games of the 2018-19 season.

The Good:

76ers 87  Celtics 105

It’s opening night and the Celtics season looks promising. The team defense looks great, holding Philadelphia to 87 points. Jayson Tatum feeds off of his monster rookie year and goes for 23 points and nine rebounds. Gordon Hayward starts his first game at TD Garden and has four steals. Irving has an off night, but the team picks up the slack. With the Red Sox taking a 2-1 Series lead in the ALCS just hours before, championship hope is high in Boston.

Raptors 116  Celtics 123 (Final OT)

Kyrie Irving explodes for 43 points and 11 assists, a personal best in both categories at that point in the season. Hayward added 15, five and five as well as four steals once again. Kawhi Leonard misses a heavily contested shot at the buzzer with the game tied and the two teams fight for five extra minutes. Boston dominates overtime and picks up a big home win against a division rival.

Celtics 133 Bulls 77

An absolute beat-down of the Chicago Bulls by 56 points, which tied the biggest margin of victory for an away team in NBA history. Boston dominated this game throughout on the way to their fifth straight win. Even with Al Horford sitting out, Jaylen Brown scores a game-high 23 points with Daniel Theis chipping in 22, as well as becoming only the fifth player in history with a single game +/- of 50 or more.

Thunder 129  Celtics 134

Super Bowl Sunday in New England. The playoff atmosphere can be felt almost as if the Patriots were playing in the TD Garden instead of Atlanta. The Celtics do not disappoint as they hold off a late OKC run to take down former MVP Russell Westbrook and current MVP-candidate Paul George for their ninth win in their last ten games.

Celtics 128  Warriors 95

Gordon Hayward’s best game as a Celtic. The veteran exploded for 30 points on a 12/16 shooting night off the bench while finishing with a +32 while on the court. The performance gave Celtics fans hope that the team that was once looked at as the number one contender to dethrone the Warriors, was back. Jaylen Brown added 18 points after receiving prior criticism for his recent performances and Kyrie Irving 19 points and 11 assists. After this game it seemed the Celtics had finally turned the season around.

The Bad:

Knicks 117 Celtics 109

The TD Garden has been known to be one of the toughest places to play in the NBA. On this particular night, the 4-14 Knicks had no trouble. Boston’s third consecutive loss drops them to .500 as Gordon Hayward is now out of the starting lineup due to poor play. The expectations of this Celtics team begin to drop slightly as the realization begins to creep in that Hayward looks nothing like his once all-star self.

Lakers 129 Celtics 128

One of the most anticipated games of the season. Celtics vs Lakers, Kyrie vs LeBron, and the return of Rajon Rondo, this time in purple and yellow. Boston controlled the game early on and dominated the first half. Los Angeles then came out and outscored Boston by 15 in the third quarter. Boston came back in the fourth, and Irving looked to seal the deal hitting a go-ahead contested lay-up with eleven seconds to play. The Lakers then came down the court, and Al Horford blocked a Brandon Ingram lay-up that would’ve tied the game. After the ball goes off of three Celtics, it pops right to Rajon Rondo, who then breaks the heart of the same fans then cheered him for so many years. The game-winning jumper silenced the Garden and kept the Lakers playoff hopes alive.

Rockets 115 Celtics 104

A nationally televised Sunday afternoon game and the Celtics failed to show up. . Boston found themselves down 23 at halftime, due to horrendous shooting from everyone not named Kyrie Irving or Al Horford. The Celtics put up 35 points in the third, but didn’t cut into the lead at all as they allowed the same amount. Even with the defense stepping up in the fourth, only allowing Houston 15 points, it still was not enough as Boston drops their fifth game in six chances.

The Ugly:

Celtics 103 Magic 105

This is the game where things start to get borderline ugly for Boston. With Boston down by two in the final seconds, Brad Stevens’s draws up a play with Gordon Hayward inbounding the ball. Instead of looking to Irving, Hayward bounces a pass to Jayson Tatum for a contested fadeaway that misses. Irving is visibly frustrated which leads to questions of locker room chemistry.

Clippers 123 Celtics 112

After falling to the Lakers just two nights before, Boston came out firing. The team built a 28 point lead by Irving. At one point leading 68-40, everything seemed to be going Boston’s way. From there, it only went downhill. Irving injures his knee and leaves the game with two minutes to play in the first half. Boston comes out in the third and scores 12 points, followed by allowing 42 in the fourth. Boos reign down from TD Garden as the fans begin to get noticeably frustrated with how the season is going.

With the regular season coming to a close, the biggest debate in Boston has been whether or not the Celtics need “momentum” to succeed in the playoffs. While it seems Irving and others believe they can simply flip a switch and turn it on for the playoffs, many fans and analysts believe crawling into the playoffs could mean bad news for Boston.