3 reasons the Boston Celtics have been struggling

Boston misses key cogs in the machine

It’s always easy to point to the absence of key players as reasoning for a team’s struggles. It’s been no different when examining the Boston Celtics during their recent tumble. They’ve seen both Jayson Tatum and Al Horford miss time over the last week or so.

Horford, a veteran big man and reliable piece for the Celtics, missed the final three games of the recent West Coast trip. He was also ejected from Friday’s loss to the Magic early in the second half. So essentially Boston missed him for three and a half of the last five games. His importance to the Celtics’ success is unlike many other players in roles that are similar. Horford allows Boston more flexibility on both ends of the floor due to his shooting ability and defensive versatility. Without him, the Cs have had to give more minutes to Blake Griffin, who for the most part has been fine, but makes things more difficult. On defense the team had to play drop coverage in games against the Warriors and Clipper because he isn’t able to guard the perimeter as well as Horford. Boston saw things dry up offensively because of Horford’s absence. They missed his quick trigger from deep as the Lakers packed the paint in the second half of Tuesday’s game. Griffin doesn’t serve to be as much of a threat from distance so teams can leave him alone out there.

Tatum’s absence hasn’t been as prominent, but it has to be mentioned here. The MVP-candidate missed Sunday’s matinee matchup against the Magic due to personal reasons. The hypothesis amongst the Celtics community is that Tatum had the day off for his son Deuce’s fifth birthday. Of course, any time a team is without its best player, things don’t go as well. Never mind when that player is the front runner to win the league’s most valuable player award. Boston definitely missed his shot making ability down the stretch of what was a close game against Orlando.