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Should this worrying trend alarm Boston Celtics fans?

By Sam LaFrance

The Boston Celtics have had a special start to their 2022-23 campaign -- however there is one alarming trend that could strike fear into the hearts of fans Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Celtics have had a special start to their 2022-23 campaign -- however there is one alarming trend that could strike fear into the hearts of fans Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports /
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Boston Celtics fans have had a pretty enjoyable start to the 2022-23 season for the most part. Their team holds the best record in the NBA at 26-11, Jayson Tatum is amongst the favorites to win the NBA MVP Award, and Interim Head Coach Joe Mazzulla is starting to look like he may be the man for the permanent job.

Sure, the Cs dropped their first game of the 2023 calendar year to the Denver Nuggets on January 1, but they’d won their previous four games. That four-game streak had been a great response to Boston’s mid-December slump, where the team dropped five of six.

For the most part, they’ve done an excellent job of targeting and correcting negative trends (shoutout coach Mazzulla). The Celtics started the season as one of the worst defenses in the league, only winning games thanks to their historically-good offense. Since then, the team has climbed the rankings all the way to the seventh-best defense in the league.

A concerning trend for the Boston Celtics ahead of the postseason

Boston’s Jan. 1 loss to Denver marked the ninth game that the team had played this season after two or more days off. In those nine games, the Celtics have won just twice. So, seven of the team’s 11 losses have come in games where they have had an elongated time off beforehand. They’ve been much better on one day of rest, with a record of 18-4, and on back-to-backs, with a record of 6-0.

The trend could just be purely coincidental, but at the very least it’s something for fans to keep any eye on for the remainder of the season. It sounds somewhat silly to put any sort of focus on something like this, but often times, there are larger rest periods between games during the NBA Playoffs (the true most wonderful time of the year). For example, during last season’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, there were gaps of two days or more between Game 1 and Game 2, Game 2 and Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5, and Game 5 and Game 6. There were also extended breaks throughout the earlier stages of the postseason.

There’s no glaring reason why the Boston Celtics would play worse after having more time off. But it’s probably a good idea to curb any possible issues before the games get more important.

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