After almost two months have passed without NBA basketball, let’s take a look back on the state of the Boston Celtics before the indefinite suspension.
The Boston Celtics are currently sitting at third place in the Eastern Conference, only behind the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors, with a 43-21 record. Overall, the year has to be considered a success due to the leaps of stardom shown from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
However, the Celtics were working their way through a rough patch of games before the country went on lock down, and that cannot be forgotten.
It started on February 29th, where the C’s suffered 111-110 overtime loss to the Houston Rockets at home, a game which they failed to close out after a miraculous shot to send it into overtime from Jaylen Brown.
The team had been coming off a successful streak, with Tatum asserting himself as a superstar to the national audience. Losing to the Rockets is understandable, but the Celtics were up 17 points in the second quarter — that’s a game a good team should close out.
Next, the Brooklyn Nets came into town and somehow escaped with a 129-120 overtime victory, despite being without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Once again, the Celtics found themselves with a 17 point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, yet could not seal the deal.
Caris LeVert had his best game as a pro, scoring a whopping 37 of his 51 points in the fourth and overtime, carrying his Nets squad to victory. After back-to-back home overtime losses of being up at least 17 points, it was time to get concerned about the team.
Of course, every team has slumps, no matter how good you are. But the true test of greatness is how teams face adversity and adjust to get back on their winning ways.
The C’s got back in the win column with an easy six point victory in Cleveland. Then, they suffered back to back home losses once again, this time at the hands of the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They were outplayed by the Jazz and Mike Conley for the majority of the game, and, frankly, deserved to lose.
As for the next game, Boston found themselves up one, with possession of the ball, and only seconds remaining. After an attempted inbound pass in the back court, Kemba Walker was stripped by Dennis Schroder, allowing him to score the wide open game-winning layup.
This loss was the icing on the cake for a disastrous stretch of Celtics basketball. The great team was still there, they just failed to execute down the stretch, leading to heartbreaking losses.
The last game before the sudden suspension was an impressive win against the Indiana Pacers. Coming off this rough patch, Celtics fans expected them to blow another lead… and they did. After having a 16 point lead with under eight minutes left to go in the game, Boston found themselves down three with two minutes left after a 21-2 Indiana run.
Despite falling behind once again, they managed to regain the lead for good, winning by a score of 114-111.
This surprising win may have been a step in the right direction for this Boston Celtics squad, helping them build momentum for their upcoming schedule. Unfortunately, nobody knows how this win against a potential first round opponent would’ve effected the rest of their regular season.
Whenever this NBA suspension ends or not, we can look to see how the Boston Celtics executed down the stretch, as they struggled to do so before chaos ensued — a concern that is often forgotten.