The Boston Celtics are scorching hot as of late, what with their eight wins in 11 games, including a six-game winning streak and a few huge victories over big-time teams, most recently coming at the expense of the Phoenix Suns, in between.
Though the start to 2020-21 was a tad bit rough, this second-half stretch has given fans a greater sense of hope as we close out the regular season and head into the playoffs.
Over the last four postseason excursions, the Cs have managed to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals on three separate occasions. This year, should they wish to see yet another deep playoff run, a few aspects to their execution and roster makeup must be tweaked.
Today, we present to you 3 things that must improve should Boston wish to see yet another deep playoff run:
Thing that must improve for Boston Celtics No. 1) Core health
Throughout the 2020-21 campaign, the Boston Celtics have been ravaged by injuries.
From Kemba Walker missing the entirety of the first month of action due to an offseason knee procedure and Jayson Tatum‘s bout with COVID-19 to Marcus Smart‘s scary calf injury a few months back and, even more recently, Jaylen Brown‘s nagging shoulder injury this team’s core has had a tough go at it this year.
The team’s fab-four is vital when it comes to Boston reaching their full potential and, obviously, they need to be on the court in order to reach such heights.
If Boston wishes to simply have a chance of sniffing another ECF run, health must be on their side.
Thing that must improve for Boston Celtics No. 2) Bench scoring
It’s evident that this Boston Celtics team is quite top-heavy when it comes to their roster, for their main contributors have come in the form of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Kemba Walker.
While this should be expected to a certain extent, for they are the team’s top-billed performers, the drop off behind these aforementioned talents, specifically in terms of scoring off the pine, is rather concerning.
Of those who have logged more than 10 games so far for the franchise, the best second-unit scorer this team has is Tristan Thompson, who is posting eight points a night.
As a whole, the team’s bench ranks dead last in the league when it comes to points per game (30.5).
While the concept of landing Evan Fournier at this year’s trade deadline and signing Jabari Parker just last week was to try and bolster their second-unit scoring, to this point we have yet to see what both of them can do to this underwhelming aspect to the team’s overall game.
Bottom of the barrel is not where the C’s bench needs to be if they wish to alleviate the scoring pressure off the shoulders of Boston’s core.
Thing that must improve for Boston Celtics No. 3) Kemba Walker
This part plays a bit into the first slide talking about health, as Kemba Walker has been plagued with injuries since his second-half of year one with the Boston Celtics, but aside from the core-four, the point guard playing at his best is pivotal when it comes to the team having a deep postseason run.
Deemed Beantown’s X-factor by Bleacher Report writer, Zach Buckley, the perennial All-Star at his A-game has proven to be a huge difference-maker for the Celtics this season:
"The 31-year-old’s All-Star days could be behind him—lost both to Father Time and knee problems—as the one-time elite shot-creator is now just a 59th percentile player as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. His field-goal percentage (40.1) and true shooting percentage (53.8) have both dipped lower than they’ve been since 2014-15. But when the Shamrocks get “Vintage Kemba,” they’re almost unstoppable (10-5 when he scores 20-plus). They also need his playmaking now more than ever with Gordon Hayward having relocated to Charlotte, and it’s no coincidence Walker’s best month as a distributor (6.5 assists per game in March) has been Boston’s strongest as a team (8-1 with a plus-8.6 net rating). The Celtics’ roster has a slew of question marks surrounding star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. If Walker moves into the certainty category, this group just might find a way to factor into the Eastern Conference race again."
Most recently, we saw the point guard guide the Jaylen Brown-less Celtics to an impressive victory over the Western Conference’s second-seeded suns, as he dropped a team-high 32 points on nearly 65 percent shooting from the field and 45 percent shooting from deep.
Brought on last offseason to be the lead guy in Boston, a healthy and locked-in Kemba Walker serving as the team’s third option makes the shamrocks a truly scary foe come playoff time for virtually any potential opponent.