Boston Celtics: 3 legitimate excuses for C’s downtrodden season

Boston Celtics excuse #3: Short offseason

Typically, the most successful teams in the NBA will have the shortest offseasons because–by nature of playing deep into the playoffs–they have played more games and have had less time to prepare for next season.

The discrepancy between some teams (New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks) who had a nine-month offseason and others (Boston Celtics, Miami Heat) who played deep into September (and in the Heat’s case, October) is the most profound in the history of the league.

COVID-19 has been slamming the Cs in a more profound way than any other team, but other teams have almost benefitted from not having to play as many games as usual while also having more of an offseason.

Obviously, no one has benefitted from COVID-19 as I am talking about from the perspective of wear and tear.

That said, time in the Lake Buena Vista bubble was notoriously less fun than life in the outside world, and Boston had the third longest stay out of any team.

The short offseason has clearly taken its toll on the Cs.

With all of these excuses said, though, Boston could render them naught with a strong finish to the season.