As has been well documented all throughout the 2020-21 campaign, the Boston Celtics have been completely decimated by injuries.
Be it ailments sustained via on-court wear and tear or ones related to COVID-19, the shamrocks have easily been one of the hardest-hit teams when it comes to injuries.
Now, heading into Wednesday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic, these issues seem to be rolling right along, as recent injury updates have reported that All-Star wing, Jaylen Brown, has already been ruled out for the exhibition while veteran big man, Tristan Thompson, is listed as questionable.
Looking at the disappointing season as a whole, perhaps the biggest takeaway to be had is that the team’s head honchos of Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, and Marcus Smart have barely managed to take to the court together.
In fact, of the 65 games played thus far into the schedule, this aforementioned quartet of talents have only played a mere 16 games together, equating to just about 25 percent of this year’s contests.
This lowly number, of course, has been greatly impacted by the extended absences of both Walker and Smart, with the former having missed the first 11 games of the season (nearly an entire month) as he recovered from his offseason stem cell injection in his left knee while the latter missed a little over a month of action due to a scary-looking calf strain sustained in early February.
However, Tatum and Brown both have missed their fair share of games due to various reasons throughout the campaign as well.
Perhaps to the surprise of some, when looking at the team’s stats, one will find that none of the C’s top-billed players are atop the list of total games. Instead, this slot is owned by Boston’s rookie point guard, Payton Pritchard, who leads the way with 59.
With this, the Celtics are just one of five teams in the league with a rookie leading the charge in games played, with the others being the Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Houston Rockets, all of whom hold the four worst records in the NBA.
With this factoid, perhaps it becomes a bit more clear as to why the Boston Celtics have struggled so much during the regular season.
But hey, it’s Brad Stevens’ fault, still… right?