After an underwhelming 2020-21 season where they finished with a measly .500 record of 36-36, the Boston Celtics find themselves once again taking part in an uphill battle, this time in the form of a first-round playoff bout against the championship favorite, Brooklyn Nets.
Despite playing a hard-fought contest Saturday night, one that even saw the Cs holding onto the lead heading into the second half while also managing to hold Brooklyn’s Big-3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving to 0 for 11 shooting from 3-point range through quarters one and two, Boston ultimately ended up dropping Game One by a final score of 104 to 93.
Of course, this outcome was expected by the majority of fans and spectators, for the injury-plagued shamrocks simply seem to be of little threat to take down arguably the greatest grouping of talent ever assembled on an NBA team.
Still, even with this unfortunate truth, Boston only finds itself down by one game in this series, meaning at the very least three more are to be played before one can officially call the first-round a wrap.
Though they may be viewed as absolute underdogs and are without Jaylen Brown for the rest of the season, the Celtics still boast a roster consisting of perennial All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker while also being run by one of the best head coaches currently in the league in Brad Stevens.
Even with the odds stacked against them, this team still has a fighter’s chance, and, as they’ve proven over the last several years, once the postseason comes underway they can grapple with the best of them.
Due to their 11-point loss from Game One, one should fully expect the team’s approach in Game Two to be a bit tweaked, from their play calling to their player rotations.
In regard to the latter, while the Houdini understands that their roster is certainly not the deepest — not by a longshot — we at the site believe there are 2 players who logged playing time in Saturday’s outing that should see increased minutes Tuesday: