Boston Celtics: 3 legitimate excuses for C’s downtrodden season
It has not been the year for the Boston Celtics. Last night’s 119-115 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder needs to be rock bottom. Any further down than the Cs are now and that extension that Brad Stevens signed last summer before the Lake Buena Vista bubble down in Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sports complex is going to be under the world’s largest microscope by every single NBA talking head…including this one.
Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, and Robert Williams were all absent, but so was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and outside of him, the Thunder shouldn’t have anyone dropping 20+ on them, no matter how depleted the roster is.
There Boston was though, dropping a winnable game against a team that had not seen their hand raised in 14 games. Give credit where it is due, OKC is filled with scrappers that are proving their place in the league and playing the game the right way. There’s a semblance of a supporting cast in Oklahoma City, unlike what the Houston Rockets have going on right now.
There’s no rest to be had either, with the Charlotte Hornets on the schedule. A loss tonight would ignite Boston Celtics Twitter in flames. Kendrick Perkins already thinks the team should be ashamed of themselves.
It’s easy to be hard on the Cs…but it’s just easy to make excuses.
Because this season, there are legitimate reasons why Boston has underperformed. Here’s 3 Hardwood Houdini has in mind:
Boston Celtics excuse #1: Hardest hit by COVID-19
Every single team across every professional sport is dealing with COVID-19. Beyond that, every single human being across the planet is dealing with the effects of COVID-19 in some form.
In the NBA, due to the league’s Health and Safety protocols, teams are facing an unprecedented number of game absences. That has an obvious effect on how this season has played out.
Boston has been hit by COVID-19 in a way no other team can claim, though:
The @celtics missed 167 games for COVID according to Fansure.
— Sean Deveney (@SeanDeveney) April 28, 2021
Pacers, Cavs, Pels, Hawks, Pistons, Clips, Blazers, Thunder, Warriors, Hornets & Magic combined to miss 157 games bc of Covid.
11 teams and the Celtics missed 10 games more COVID games than the entire group combined.
Numbers don’t lie folks. Hard to win consistently when you don’t have the same group of players due to having a virus that has impacted millions globally.