The Boston Celtics entered the 2018-19 season as the betting favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. While that is still certainly a possibility given the team’s depth and talent, things haven’t gone according to plan for Brad Stevens and company and Boston’s struggles reached new heights on Sunday evening.
The Celtics dropped a second straight game, losing on the road in Portland, and star point guard Kyrie Irving expressed his displeasure in speaking to the media following the contest. While there was plenty to sift through with Irving’s comments, it was noteworthy that he indicated the “excitement is done” in Boston and that the team simply isn’t as good right now as originally expected.
“We needed this,” Irving said, via Tom Westerholm of Mass Live. “We’re not as good as we think we are. I said it at the beginning of the season. The excitement is done. It’s real basketball now, so it’s not just about the potential of the team or where we’ll be at the end of the season. It’s right now and taking care of what presently is in front of us.”
At 7-6, it is far too early for full-fledged panic surrounding the Celtics but, as Irving also noted, the team’s talent is much better than its record at the moment.
“We come out and clearly we outmatch teams at dang near every position,” Irving said. “We have a lot of good players. And when I say outmatch, I mean in terms of the groups we have out there we pretty much have a mismatch every time out there down the floor. So it comes with discipline. It comes with understanding. It comes with experience of just being on a team like this. We can’t have empty possessions, so whoever is shooting the shot, if they feel like it’s a great shot, then we all have to feel comfortable with it.”
In an interesting twist, Irving also shared his feelings that Boston could benefit from another veteran on the roster, even if largely in an advisory role.
“I think it just comes with, just some experience,” Irving said. “Looking at this locker room, me being in my eighth year and being a ‘veteran’ as well as Al and Baynes. Right now I think it would be nice if we had someone that was a 15-year vet, a 14-year vet that could kind of help us race along the regular season and understand it’s a long marathon rather than just a full-on sprint, when you want to play, when you want to do what you want to do. It’s all about attitude and effort. That’s all it is.”
The merits of that kind of veteran presence can be debated and the Celtics do have a leader in Al Horford that is in the midst of his 12th NBA season. Still, the overarching theme of what Irving had to say could be accurate, especially when taking into account the fact that Boston has so many mouths to feed on the offensive end of the floor.
Through 13 games, the Celtics are scoring only 104.2 points per 100 possessions (per NBA.com) and that ranks as a bottom-five offensive output in the NBA. For a team with an overflowing breadth of talent headlined by Irving, Horford, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, that is both inexplicable and likely unsustainable. With that said, there isn’t a ton of cohesion in Boston at the moment, and after what appeared to be at least a mildly troubling loss, Irving couldn’t help but turn up the fire on his team. As a result, it will be very interesting to see how Boston responds.
Fortunately for the Celtics, there is a “get right” spot on the ledger at home against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
