An optimist’s list of concerns with the Boston Celtics

On February 27th I wrote an article explaining why I believe in this team as a contender. Since that time they’ve gone 1-4. (Note: this was written yesterday) I joked in that article that I wasn’t big on jinxes but now I’m wondering. I’m not superstitious, but I am a little ‘stitious (my family has sailors and fishermen in it, so I’ve been trained). My Knicks fan friend even suggested mentioning him again in my next article to break the jinx. Shoot, I’ll try anything.

So just in case I’ve angered any hoop deities out there, here’s my mea culpa and attempt at counterbalance. A list of reasons why I’m concerned about this team.

Injuries

Any team could have key players get injured at any time. That’s a given. The Celtics have Robert Williams III who seems to be injured a larger percentage of the time than your average player. I see him as a ceiling raiser on this team. If he’s out or not at full speed, this team just isn’t as good. It isn’t just him either. Marcus Smart is always one dive away from another injury. Brogdon has been known to miss his share of time. Up and down the lineup players have missed time with one thing or another this season. And I’m contractually obligated to mention Al Horford’s age in an article like this.

Focus

Basketball is a game of runs, we know this. It is very hard for any team to remain locked in and hyper focused for a full 48 minutes, in particular on a random game in the middle of the season. Other teams blow leads and take their foot off the gas at inopportune times. It happens.

However, it does seem to happen to this team more than the average team. (Sorry, I do not have any stats to back this up. This is just a feeling that could be influenced by my hyper focus on one team)

The Celtics haven’t just blown leads that led to losses. They also blew a lot of leads that led to closer-than-they-should-have-been wins. It is maddening because you have evidence that they CAN beat a team right there in the first quarter. Then at some point they start getting away from what got them the lead and all of a sudden its a game again.

I also don’t understand why they go into clock-killing (prevent defense style) mode with several minutes left instead of continuing to attack.

Grant Williams

Speaking of focus, I’m officially worried about Grant Williams. Between the slump and the DNP and the missed free throws, I have to wonder what’s going on there. I’m no armchair psychiatrist but it…