Boston Celtics: 3 key things holding Cs back from contention

Factor holding Boston Celtics back No. 3) Overall health

The Boston Celtics have been one of the hardest-hit teams this season in regard to the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

In fact, they’ve been THE hardest-hit team.

From guys like Jayson Tatum and Romeo Langford to, more recently, their trade deadline acquisition, Evan Fournier, entering Tuesday night’s exhibition against the Philadelphia 76ers the team’s players have spent a combined 131 days in COVID protocols (according to Fansure).

To put into perspective just how badly they’ve been affected, the second team on this list is the Dallas Mavericks who have a total of 111 player days missed due to protocols, which is still nearly three full weeks behind the likes of the shamrocks.

On top of this, their star guard Kemba Walker came into the season rehabbing from an offseason procedure on his left knee, forcing him to miss nearly the first month of action and, frankly, has yet to really look like his old self.

Marcus Smart, the lifeblood of the Boston Celtics, is recently coming off of a scary-looking left calf strain that sidelined him for a little over a month.

Most recently, star Jaylen Brown, though he’s managed to play through the pain, has been dealing with a nagging knee injury.

Health as a whole has been a major problem for the Cs all season. Should they not find a way to overcome this devastating reality of the sport and the era in which we’re living in, things will continue to remain as underwhelming as they’ve been.