Boston Celtics: Grading the C’s first half of 2020-21

With the All-Star Break marking the exact midway point for the Boston Celtics, let’s grade the C’s first half of the 2020-21 campaign.

The first half of the 2020-21 season for the Boston Celtics was…interesting, to say the least.

How do you grade the first 36 games of Boston’s season? Let’s start with a little review session to see how they got here and what positives there are amidst all the misfortune.

Heading into this year, fans knew the Celtics would be without starting point guard Kemba Walker for several weeks as he recovered from an offseason procedure. What fans were hoping for, however, was that veteran addition Jeff Teague could help Marcus Smart bolster that position till Walker returned, and that veteran forward Tristan Thompson would add an experienced edge to a young frontcourt to take some pressure off Boston’s guards.

Instead, Teague has largely been disappointing, and Thompson got off to a very slow start because of a lack of a true offseason.

There were positive surprises too, though.

Jaylen Brown emerged as a legitimate star alongside Jayson Tatum, stepping up in the absence of Walker and the departure of Gordan Hayward to the Charlotte Hornets. The 24-year-old joined Tatum as an All-Star this season and is enjoying a career year in the biggest role of his NBA tenure.

Not only that, but rookie point guard Payton Pritchard burst onto the scene and was a nice spark when Boston needed it early in the season. The first-round pick out of Oregon has been Boston’s sixth man and has had an impact on both ends of the court. There’s also been the continued improvement of both Robert and Grant Williams off the bench.

While those developments have been nice, they were some of the few bright spots in what was ultimately a disappointing first half of the season for the Celtics.

At the midway point of this season, Boston sits at 19-17 overall, sitting a half-game ahead of the New York Knicks for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Few fans expected this team to be only two games above .500 at the All-Star break.

It took a four-game winning streak to close out the first half to get to that point, which only underscores the struggle the first 36 games have been.

After an 8-3 start to the year, the shamrocks would go on to lose 14 of their next 21 games before going on a four-game winning streak to close out the first half of the season. That 21-game stretch was marred by injuries and COVID issues, which played into the maddeningly inconsistent play by this team.

The perfect example of Boston’s first half was their stretch of games to end January and begin February.

After losing by four to the San Antonio Spurs on the road and losing by just one point to the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics came out and beat the Golden State Warriors by four despite 38 points from Steph Curry.

Then, Boston lost by five to a Sacramento Kings team that currently has one of the worst records in the NBA. After that, they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, a team with one of the best records in the league.

This team is a trade or two away from flipping their fortunes, and if they can ever get their whole roster healthy at the same time, there’s no telling what this squad can actually do.

As it is right now, though, Boston’s first half was incredibly disappointing. If not for the four-game winning streak right before the break, there’s a good chance I’d give this team at least a “D” if not a flat out “F” for their first half.

Because of that streak, and because Boston has dealt with plenty of injuries and health concerns, I’m being more lenient.

There’s no denying the Boston Celtics have underachieved in their first 36 games, though, and they need a strong second half of the year to reach their ultimate goals.

Grade: D+