The reigning Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics are set to get underway Tuesday night when the 2022-23 schedule tips off at TD Garden when they host the Philadelphia 76ers.
Boston will be facing some uncertainty as the season begins with injuries and a coaching change. Free agent acquisition forward/guard Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL playing for Italy in a FIBA World Cup qualifier and is expected to miss the entire season, while starting center Robert Williams III had knee surgery and will be out 8-12 weeks. Then comes the interim coaching change, with 34 year old assistant coach Joe Mazzulla taking over for Ime Udoka after Udoka was suspended for the entire year amid a scandal reportedly involving an inappropriate relationship with a team staff member. Mazzulla appears to have the respect of the front office and players, but his only other head coaching experience was with NCAA Division II Fairmount State.
The team did also add depth by acquiring veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers for Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan, Nik Stauskas, and a 2023 first round draft pick. Brogdon is expected to be the first off the bench. They also picked up free agent big man Blake Griffin from the Brooklyn Nets. An interesting thing to watch during the absence of Williams III is to see how they manage minutes for veteran center Al Horford. Derrick White and Horford are expected to be in the starting lineup to begin the year. Sam Houser also showed some impressive play during preseason and will be expected to see minutes.
Boston must be better late in games if they expect to defend their Eastern Conference Title. Last season in the postseason the C’s in clutch time, which is defined as the score being within five points with five or less minutes remaining, shot 34% from the field and 23% from the three-point arc in those situations where they also had a 14.1 turnover rate and a minus 14.2 net rating. Being more efficient in those spots will lead to more success. In Game 4 of the NBA Finals against Golden State, they led by four with five minutes left trying to take a 3-1 series lead but only scored three points the rest of the way as the Warriors won and the Celtics didn’t win another game in the series. Having Brogdon will help that tremendously, but ultimately it will come down to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. As potential NBA MVP and All-NBA players, those two will need to play better down the stretch of close games. The opener vs Philadelphia in Boston is a 7:30 p.m. tip time on Tuesday, while their second game is an Eastern Conference Finals rematch with the Miami Heat down in South Beach on Friday.
Projected Celtics starting lineup-
G Marcus Smart
G Derrick White
G/F Jaylen Brown
F Jayson Tatum
C Al Horford
