NBA 2018-19: 3 Takeaways from the Boston Celtics' loss to the Phoenix Suns

#2 Boston’s imbalance

With Baynes and Horford out of the lineup, Boston is strictly a perimeter scoring team. They shot 44% against the Suns which isn’t horrible. However, they were not efficient. Tatum was 7/17, Jaylen Brown was 3/9 and Rozier was 4/11. Kyrie Irving is going to need some help.

The Celtics need to find a way to get Gordon Hayward going. He was brought in as a free agent by general manager Danny Ainge in the summer of 2017. He suffered a nasty break and dislocation of the leg, literally 5 minutes into last season and that was it. Hayward has played in 25 games for Boston this year but is only averaging 10.9 points per game. Just three seasons ago Hayward was averaging 21 plus points per game for Utah.

Many teams are in that phase of the season where nagging injuries or start popping up and a star player like Gordon Hayward needs to start shining for Boston. For example, The Raptors were without Jonas Valanciunas, Serge Ibaka, and Kyle Lowry and found a way to beat a good and streaking Indiana team after leading for all of 29 seconds in their contest tonight.

Also at issue is that Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward are all guards and wing players. They have two true centers left on the roster in Robert Williams III and Daniel Theis.

This is in his second year and Williams is a rookie. The Celtics need help at center. Horford has already missed 6 straight games and now Baynes is out indefinitely. Further, Theis is only 6'8 and Williams is 6'10. Boston is not only inexperienced they are small at center right now. This also means Boston will be playing a lot of small ball in the immediate future.

While every team in the NBA has enough talent to beat anyone on any night, the Celtics are better than Phoenix. However, they are going to need to find a way to balance their inside-out game so that they do not become one dimensional.