Boston Celtics: The Tough Road Ahead

The Boston Celtics suffered a tough loss in Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks despite a valiant comeback effort. The team will need more of the same effort if they want to win Game 2.

The Boston Celtics‘ road to the second round just got a hell of a lot bumpier.

The team will be without Avery Bradley and quite possibly Kelly Olynyk as they head into Game 2 in Atlanta this evening. Bradley, who finished 6th in Defensive Player of the Year voting (highest ranked guard on the list) injured his hamstring in the 4th quarter of Game 1 and is expected to miss the rest of the series. Olynyk is still having problems with the shoulder that caused him to miss several weeks during the regular season and is considered to be a game time decision.

The Hawks were a tough match-up to begin with and the one area that the Celtics had the advantage in was perimeter defense. That advantage diminishes significantly without the best defensive guard in the NBA on the floor.

In addition to his lockdown defense, Bradley is also the second leading scorer on the team behind Isaiah Thomas, averaging over 15 points per game. The Celtics will need other guys to step up offensively if they want to have a shot in this series.

Surprisingly enough, I don’t think the Celtics will suffer as much defensively as they will offensively without Bradley. Marcus Smart is capable of playing shutdown defense on any player at the 1,2, and 3 positions, and rookie Terry Rozier who will certainly see some more minutes now, is no slouch on the defensive end either. Not to mention the Celtics still have Jae Crowder and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Evan Turner, both of whom have demonstrated that they are above average defenders night in and night out.

The Celtics need to find a way to be productive and efficient on offense if they want to win Game 2 and have a chance of winning this series. It was grueling to watch this team chuck up three after three in the first half on Saturday night and not see anything fall. What was even more exhausting to watch was the fact that they didn’t attempt much else on offense when it was obvious that the long ball wasn’t exactly going their way.

The Boston Celtics are not a good shooting team, and the Hawks know that. They are going to give the C’s open looks from the three point line and let them shoot their way right out of the game. The Celtics need to prevent themselves from falling victim to the three and they need to play their game. Which is playing tough defense, forcing the offense to turn the ball over, and getting out in transition for some fast break points.

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In the NBA, you live and die by the three. A team like the Warriors live by three, because they have Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, but a team like the Celtics will die by the three if they allow themselves. They just don’t have the knock down shooters to be able to rely on the outside shots.

In their last two games the Celtics have fallen behind early and found themselves on the comeback trail in the second half. They can’t let that happen tonight if they want to win. The team must come out with the same effort in the first half that they have showed in the second halves of their recent games against the Hawks and the Heat.

My X-Factor for this game is Evan Turner. He is going to need to step up on both sides of the ball with Avery Bradley out. Avery brings a lot of toughness and heart to the game and it’s going to be up to Evan Turner and some other role players to provide that same sense of toughness and grit.

This should be a close game but I’m expecting the C’s to come out and get the job done. Let’s hope I’m right.

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