3 weaknesses that could prevent Boston Celtics from reaching NBA Finals

The Boston Celtics managed to take care of business in Game 4, redeeming themselves after dropping the previous contest on their own home floor by blowing out Miami 102-82 which, in turn, ties this best-of-seven series right back up at two games apiece as they head back down to South Beach for a crucial Game 5.

Now, with this newly acquired momentum, many are under the impression that the C’s could end up running the table and wrap this year’s Eastern Conference Finals up right back at TD Garden for Friday’s Game 6, thus clinching them their first NBA Finals berth in over a decade.

However, we’ve seen this show before, as this team also routed the Heat just three games ago, only to then give the advantage they cultivated back to the east’s top seed by letting up their first game of the series on their own turf in Massachusetts.

As we’ve seen both in this series alone as well as in the early stages of the 2021-22 campaign where they went a mere 20-21 through the first 41 games played, though they proved to be one of the most lethal teams in the association during their second-half surge and throughout this postseason, the Boston Celtics certainly have the capability of shooting themselves in the foot.

While they may be highly talented and chock full of championship potential, Ime Udoka’s squad is far from perfect, and we believe that there are 3 primary weaknesses that could, in theory, prevent them from reaching the 2022 NBA Finals:

Boston Celtics weakness No. 1) Second half blunders

For those of you who have been watching this Eastern Conference Finals series, you likely already know that one of the biggest flaws for this Boston Celtics team is easily found within their on-court production when resuming play past halftime.

During the opening two quarters, outside of the anomaly that was Game 3, the C’s have generally come out swinging, as they find themselves outscoring the Miami Heat 219-194 in all four first halves of action.

Unfortunately, they can’t seem to keep this momentum flowing into the second half, as Boston has gone on to be outscored during this portion of the game 203-217, with the most struggles coming in the third where they’ve been outscored 89-109.

With this, we see the Celtics are struggling more often than they should to maintain a lead they’ve built for themselves and even went on to lose a big one in a Game 1 that, early on, looked like it was going to be a shoo-in victory for the ball club.

If Boston wishes to advance in this series, they’re going to have to play consistent basketball in all four quarters from here on out, especially considering that they may find themselves playing two more games in Miami.