The Boston Celtics will head towards the restart of the NBA as one of the best contenders in the East, and if this team is at full strength, they have the potential to make a deep jump in the post season. Led by third-year forward Jayson Tatum, Boston has been among the best in the league this season on both ends of the floor, ranking in the top five in both the offensive and defensive standings. However, five months after the game is a long time and just like all Orlando teams will have to quickly rebuild their momentum, Boston is no exception.
The break gave some of their protagonists such as Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown time to recover and rest for what the Celtics hope is a long stay at Disney World. But the ruling is still pending if this young team full of talented players can perform in the post-season and get past that hump to make the NBA finals.
Here’s a look at the Celtics roster, schedule, and key storylines for when the season will resume in Orlando on July 30th.
Celtics list
Players sitting outside: None
Celtics program
All Eastern times
Key plots
Kemba Walker’s health: Walker had to deal with what has been described as left knee soreness, and this made him lose the game here and there after the All-Star discontinuation. The thought was that the four months of rest would allow him to heal completely and return to “Cardiac Kemba”. However, before the Celtics traveled to the NBA bubble, reports surfaced that Walker still felt knee discomfort after going through individual training in Boston. He was limited in practice in Florida, and Boston coach Brad Stevens recently said that their All-Star guard would have a limitation of minutes in all eight of the team’s seeding games.
Walker isn’t too worried about his health, rather frustrated that he’s not in good health. While he’s in a minute restriction isn’t ideal, he’s smart on Boston’s part considering the postseason is far more important than the remaining eight games in their regular season schedule. If the former Charlotte Hornets star can reach full health in time for the playoffs, he will only strengthen an already loaded list, especially if Walker will return and sound like he did when Boston beat the Clippers in early February. Walker nearly scored a triple double – 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists – in a game in which Jayson Tatum scored 39 points and Marcus Smart added 31 points. While Jaylen Brown was sidelined for that game, that performance from a team perspective is exactly what Boston hopes to replicate throughout the season.
Tatum’s game comes from the playoffs: While Walker was facing his knee problem, Tatum seamlessly entered the scoring option. 1 and absolutely demolished opposing teams night after night. In the past month before the season was postponed, the third-year forward had averaged just 30 points per game, with eight rebounds and three assists. It wasn’t just his offensive game. On defense, Tatum only allows 0.836 points per possession, which ranks seventh in the league (minimum 500 possessions), for Synergy Sports. In just one season, Tatum went from an emerging young man to a bona fide star, giving the Celtics someone to rely on as players have gone left and right throughout the season.
The question, however, is whether Tatum can bring this type of production into the playoffs and even further elevate his game. We have seen him have extraordinary moments in the playoffs in his two previous seasons, but in 2019-2020 he has taken on a much bigger role in this team and will be asked to do much more as the Celtics have the potential to make the Eastern Finals . If Tatum could pick up where he left off in March, Boston could be a challenge for a team like Milwaukee or Toronto in the upper east.
Will the Celtics be able to avoid the Sixers in the first round?: Before the Celtics can think of the Eastern Conference finals, they could potentially have an extremely tough first round matchup against the 76ers. In four meetings with Philadelphia this season, Boston went only 1-3. In a matchup, the Celtics struggled a lot in trying to contain Joel Embiid, who started for 38 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. The Sixers’ length isn’t an ideal matchup for Boston, because now with Al Horford in Philly, the Celtics have no one able to neutralize Embiid.
Philadelphia will be at its peak when the season returns. It starts with the return of Ben Simmons, who has lost nine of the last 10 games played by the Sixers before the break. The upside to this for Boston, however, is that Philly is tied with Indiana pacers for fifth place in the east rankings. The Sixers will have a real opportunity to move to point 5, which would greatly benefit the Celtics, as they pair better with the Pacers. Nothing is guaranteed, so Boston will just have to sit back and hope that Philadelphia can climb the rankings to avoid it in the first round.
