It’s been an inauspicious start to the 2018-2019 NBA campaign for the Boston Celtics. Billed as preseason favorites to win the East with both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward set to return to a lineup that reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season without them, this was supposed to be the season Brad Stevens and co. arrived at the promised land. Then the regular season started.
Despite a win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday, the Celtics sit at 11-10, good for 6th place in the Eastern Conference but just 2.5 games away from of being out of the playoff picture completely. They’re averaging just 107.1 points per game, 23rd in the NBA, a number that seems almost blasphemous on a team with guys like Irving, Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the roster. They’re 27th in the NBA in efficiency, and s of last week, Hayward’s PER sat at 13.6, a number that is both below average and infinitely worse than the 22.2 rating he posted two seasons ago, his last as a member of the Utah Jazz, per Tom Haberstroh.
That’s led to a little bit of discomfort in Boston. Last week, Brad Stevens said, “I just don’t know if we’re that good.” And now, Irving’s finger is sliding a little closer to the panic button.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Irving told Chris Mannix that the Celtics may be nearing a breaking point if things don’t turn around soon.
“You’re almost at that rock bottom point where the team is about to blow up,” Kyrie Irving said. “Not saying that we’re there, but for me there is no more time to waste.”
Well then.
Look, 21 games is certainly not enough of a sample size to make any grand proclamations about where a team will be come April. The Celtics will almost certainly continue to improve, round Hayward and Irving back into shape and be in the playoff picture come spring — Monday’s win over New Orleans was impressive and pointed at a team possibly figuring some of those offensive issues out. But if things keep going sideways? Perhaps that team fragility Irving is speaking about will turn into a full on break.
