The Boston Celtics, by their own aspirations have had a relatively disappointing regular season. The Celtics have had to deal with team chemistry, health, and Irving media created issues all season. The good news is that the playoffs could be an opportunity to start fresh. We are going to analyze how good the 2018-2019 Boston Celtics actually can be, heading into the playoffs.

Let’s start by recapping the 2018-2019 Boston Celtics’ regular season.

This was a tough season for Celtics fans. What could go wrong, did go wrong. The Celtics were not the clear cut favorites all year like most of us expected them to be. Egos were in were involved and health was also an issue.

The Boston Celtics finished the 2018-2019 regular season with a 49-33 record, 11 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks. While they were decent at home, they finished 21-20 on the road. The Celtics ranked 10th in offensive rating, and 6th in defensive rating.

They also ranked 6th in 3PM, 22nd in REB, 5th in AST, 4th in STL, and 10th in BLK.

Analyzing the 2018-2019 Boston Celtics on defense:

The Celtics are still a relatively good defensive team. There are some instances where they appear as good or even better than they were last year. There are also areas where they struggle.

As mentioned, the Celtics did finished 6th in defensive rating, despite ranking 16th in defensive rebounding. There are not many playoff teams who are worse in this category than the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics did get back in transition though, ranking 4th in limiting points off turnovers and 11th in defending against fast break points. However, they do allow too many 2nd chance points, ranking 16th. Surprisingly, they also finished 5th in defending against points in the paint.

The Celtics were not particularly great at defending against the 3P shot this year. With Marcus Smart being injured, this could be another area they struggle in.

Analyzing the 2018-2019 Boston Celtics on offense:

The good news is, Kyrie Irving is an isolation bucket getter. The bad news is, he is an isolation bucket getter. Because of this, the Celtics have appeared to play better when they ran the offense through Hayward on nights that Irving sat out.

The stats are a little confusing because of the Celtics’ ups and downs with moving the basketball. However, they did manage to finish 8th in assisted field goals made. For reference, the Warriors and Nuggets finished at the top of this category. The Cavaliers and Knicks finished at the bottom.

The Boston Celtics’ did not score too often in isolation, ranking them 23rd in unassisted field goals. While several playoff teams finished below the Celtics in this category, the stat is a little misleading. The Celtics got in isolation situations without scoring enough times for us to witness Marcus Morris build a brick house.

Analyzing the Celtics’ potential weaknesses.

The Boston Celtics have a laundry list full of potential weaknesses. It does appear that Irving is trying to fix chemistry issues with the Celtics by taking on a lot of blame publicly. However, Celtics fans are still skeptical of whether or not the Celtics have truly figured it out.

Their offensive identity is shaky. I also question Brad Stevens’ stubbornness with starting Marcus Morris and playing him too many minutes. We have also seen a reluctancy to get Brown the basketball when he is on a hot shooting streak, for whatever reason.

When Hayward is Hayward, the Celtics win games. Unfortunately, due to the ankle, he has been very inconsistent this season. In addition to that, the Celtics have now also lost their best perimeter defender in Marcus Smart due to an oblique injury.

Should Celtics fans be excited for their playoff run?

Assuming they can get by the Pacers without Oladipo, they will have to face the Milwaukee Bucks. I have already done my research published my 2018-2019 Milwaukee Bucks playoff analysis.

The Celtics are the most confusing team to analyze, in my opinion. They have the talent to compete with anyone in the Eastern Conference. They have some very experienced group of players for a young team. They have made the Eastern Conference Finals for the last few years. When they Celtics are at their best, they are hard to beat.

In fact, when the Celtics are at the best, I believe they are the second best team in the NBA, behind the Warriors. However, great teams are consistently good and often great. The Celtics have not been consistently good or bad at much this year, besides winning when Irving was out due to injury.

They also happen to match up very well with the Milwaukee Bucks. Celtics fans joke that Semi Ojeleye’s sole purpose on the team is to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo a few times a year. The Celtics have also looked like a focus team to finish the season.

I have a hard time believing that there is a team in the East that can beat the Celtics at their best. Unfortunately, without Marcus Smart, I am uncertain how good the Celtics will be on the defensive end. For that reason, I am not sure if they can get past Toronto in the Eastern Conference Finals. As of right now, I do have them getting past Indiana and Milwaukee. We’ll have to see how they look in the playoffs and reassess from there.

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