Wait until next year
McHale thinks injuries hurt C’s
Back on Jan. 27, when the Celtics were going toe to toe with Golden State in the middle of the ring in Oakland, it seemed the shamrocks were coming into alignment.
They were 35-15 and atop the Eastern Conference, and Warrior people were saying even privately that this could be a very interesting NBA Finals should the two make it that far.
But a week shy of two months later as the Bostonians limped into last night’s meeting with Oklahoma City, even the longshot postseason hopes were fading. While Jaylen Brown could be back on the upcoming road trip from concussion protocol, Kyrie Irving’s left knee is now shrouded in deeper mystery. Marcus Smart is a playoff returnee at best, and Daniel Theis is gone for the year after knee surgery. It’s best to view the Gordon Hayward situation as do the Celts — he’s not coming back this season.
Franchise legend Kevin McHale could offer only a verbal shake of his head as he prepared to broadcast last night’s game for TNT.
“They’re just beat up now,” said McHale. “In pulling for Boston, which I do, it just seems like they just could never, ever kind of (get it all together). They lost a couple (to start the season) and then they had that unbelievable stretch where they won everything. And from that point on it just seems like there’s always been something. They haven’t been able to stay healthy enough. If they don’t have Hayward, they need everybody else. They need everybody else healthy. Now Marcus has had thumb surgery, Theis is out. Now you’re talking about Kyrie getting a second opinion, and even if he does come back, is he going to have enough time to get his rhythm before the playoffs? It’s just too bad. It’s just one of those years, it seems like, for them and for a lot of teams. It seems like half the teams in the league are going through this. It’s the same thing with Golden State. Are they going to have enough time to get any rhythm?”
It should still be an interesting playoff run.
“I think they were going to have to play really, really well, which they’re capable of,” McHale said. “They were going to have to have everybody healthy. And (Jayson) Tatum and Brown and Kyrie and all their shooters would have to be making shots. (Terry) Rozier’s been playing great for them, but all of those guys were going to have to play at a really high level for them to have success, to have a long playoff run.
“I think they exceeded expectations, just because of playing Tatum and Brown. But Danny (Ainge) did a great job of drafting those guys, too. Tatum and Brown both defend, they’re long, they both rebound. They’re good, you know what I mean? So he plugged in some very versatile players that can defend different people, and Smart’s defense has always been great. So they kind of hung their hat on defense. I thought their offense would be better even without Hayward than kind of what it was . . . . But it’s tough, man. They’ve got to be hitting on all cylinders to get to the Eastern Conference finals or get out of the East.”
As for next season, said McHale, “You’ve got young guys who are getting better all the time that you look at it and you think that they’ve got a chance, no question. They’ll be a really good team next year if, again, everybody gets healthy. Then you look in their back pocket and they’ve still got Sacramento’s pick unprotected (actually protected if it’s No. 1). So they still have assets that they can trade.
“Danny will do a good job and get those guys going, but it seems like this year, I don’t know. I’m not sure that they can put all the pieces together. But we’ll see. Stranger things have happened. Kyrie comes back healthy, and they win the first round and Smart comes back, you know, we’ll find out.”
McHale and Ainge were very close as teammates here, but it still sounds a little odd to hear the former speaking of Ainge that way.
“I always laugh,” McHale said. “Danny’s a very patient, businesslike guy with how he approaches everything, yet he’s one of the most impulsive people you’ll ever want to meet. But in this business, he’s like unbelievably patient. He’s also a very, very good evaluator of talent. You know, Brown was a great pick at 3. Getting Tatum and another pick, he’s just been very shrewd.”
There was another talent Ainge could be good at.
“When you were playing cards,” said McHale, “he could really cheat well.”
With their physical prognosis, it’s clear the Celtics will now have to cheat expectation to go deep into the coming playoffs.