Hardwood Houdini
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Good Riddance to the 2018-19 Boston Celtics

By Andrew Hughes

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 18: The Boston Celtics react during the game against the Utah Jazz on January 18, 2019 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 18: The Boston Celtics react during the game against the Utah Jazz on January 18, 2019 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Boston Celtics’ season ended in embarrassing fashion on Wednesday night. Brad Stevens’ team bowed out of the Eastern Conference Playoffs after a 116-91 blowout loss to Milwaukee. In many ways, the elimination is pulling the band-aid off.

It’s over. After four consecutive defeats to the Milwaukee Bucks, The Boston Celtics are heading home. This 2018-19 version of the team has done all it could, and it didn’t really accomplish much. Perhaps the highlight of this disappointing season was taking a game from the potential Eastern Conference champion Bucks.

Sweeping the Pacers without their best player and winning a game against the Greek Freak is not a banner season. Particularly after the postseason the C’s had last year (coming within one game of defeating LeBron James in the Conference Finals), this was one of the worst possible outcomes they could have had.

In one season, Kyrie Irving proved to be a team-altering distraction and Gordon Hayward proved he may never be the same post-injury. The Boston Celtics won six fewer games than the previous season as the team took many steps back. That was particularly evident in the postseason.

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Jayson Tatum’s disappearing act was by far the most troubling sign this post-season. While he didn’t have a particularly inspiring regular season sophomore follow-up, he did himself and the Celtics no favors in the playoffs. His overall shooting dipped from 45% to 43% and his 3-point percentage plummeted to 32% from 37%.

Tatum remains just 20-years-old though. Though he and Jaylen Brown haven’t made the supposed “leap” yet, they shouldn’t be the ones to carry the load on a championship hopeful. That job is Irving’s.

Irving failed Boston with his second round performance. After all of the distracting free agent chatter (claiming he didn’t owe anyone “sh**”), he owed the fans and his team a Mamba-esque second round. This is what he wanted when he came to Boston, and truth be told, he had the surrounding pieces to make something happen.

Instead, he laid egg after egg. Game one proved to be an anomaly, when Irving shot 12-21 and dished out eight assists. In the Celtics’ four consecutive losses, he shot a ghastly 25-83 (30%) from the field. He even said after game four that he should take more shots following a 7-22 game.

Well, he followed that up with a 6-21 dud that will likely be his last in a Celtic uniform. Irving didn’t provide much in his two seasons in Boston besides a ton of media scrutiny and some eye-rolling quotes.

Gordon Hayward somehow managed to contribute less. The jury is out on whether or not the Celtics want to continue paying his albatross deal. He certainly didn’t make a convincing case this postseason.

In the Celtics’ last four losses to Milwaukee, Hayward made just SEVEN shots total. The easy thing to do is to point at his season-ending injury on opening night against Cleveland in 2017. Looking at DeMarcus Cousins’ return this season and Paul George in year’s past makes Hayward’s excuse less legitimate.

Next. What's next for Kyrie. dark

There were issues with this team from their overpaid superstars all the way down. This locker-room is divided. They under-performed more than any other team outside of LeBron’s Lakers. Scratch that: the Lakers weren’t expected to contend in the West…Boston was the consensus favorite in the East.

It’s over now though. Wherever Irving and Hayward land, this team will be fine. Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart are an intriguing enough core to make the Celtics playoff hopefuls for years. Their title window just closed though (unless a certain Browed superstar makes his way to Beantown).

To all of this I say: good riddance 2018-19 Celtics.

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