The start of the supposed 2018-19 championship run for the Boston Celtics has gotten off to a rocky start.
Through four games, Boston's record stands at 2-2, beating the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks and losing to the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic. While the Celtics did beat the 76ers on opening night and then beat a young and weak Knicks team, they also lost to the conference-rival Raptors and a bad Magic team.
Why have the Celtics had so much inconsistency early on this season? Let's take a look at the numbers to find out why.
As of Tuesday (Oct. 23) Boston is currently second in the league in defensive rating (97.3). Their rating corresponds to the average number of points they give up each game. They also rank sixth in the league in defensive rebounding percentage (50.5).
The numbers defensively tell us that Boston is still an elite defensive team just like they were last year. It also tells us that their defense isn't their issue through four games this season.
It's their offense.
The Celtics have the second-worst offensive rating in the league (99.3). That seems like a real low number considering all the talent they have on the roster. But the fact of the matter is that Boston has not played enough with their fully-healthy lineup, and it's leading to sloppy play on offense. This has caused them to be ranked 11th worst in the league in turnover percentage (14.4) and third-worst in field-goal percentage (41.2).
With 78 games to go in the regular season, there have been some good and bad things to take away from their play thus far. Boston's head coach Brad Stevens says that even though their shot-making isn't where it needs to be, their ball-movement is getting much better.
Stevens had this to say after Monday's loss to the Magic.
“You know, clearly you can always point to the shot-making, but that was the best we’ve played offensively all year – as far as getting shots and moving the ball and looking, working for the right ones," he said. "On a good shooting night, that could’ve been a 35-assist night."
With center Aron Baynes missing time because of a hamstring injury, Kyrie Irving still learning to play with the young stars on the team, and Hayward doing the same while still on a minutes restriction, we still have not seen this team at full strength. But unfortunately for the Celtics, the road doesn't get any easier for them to figure things out.
Over the next 10 games, Boston will be on the road for seven of them and will have to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz. All of those teams except for the Nuggets made the playoffs last year and all of them could easily give Boston a loss if the Celtics do not get their act together. The Nuggets are a much better team than they were last year and could do the same.
It is still very early, but Boston is ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference standings right now. With the tough schedule ahead, they must fight hard over the next couple months of basketball to make their way back atop the standings as they try to prove that they are not only the best team in the East but in the NBA.
“We’re figuring it out," Al Horford said after the loss to Orlando. "It’s a day to day thing and it’s us understanding what we all need to do to be successful and it takes time. There are times that we look really good, times that we don’t look good at all and we just have to keep learning and hopefully winning and learning as opposed to losing, but sometimes these types of things have to happen for the group to react.”
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