NBA 2018-19: Eastern Conference Power Rankings (Month 1 Edition)

#3 Boston Celtics

Celtics, led by Kyrie Irving aredefinitely expected to make it to East Finals — Celtics, led by Kyrie Irving

Win-Loss Record: 9-6

Home: 5-1 (0.83)

Away: 4-5 (0.44)

You may not have seen this coming but yes, the Boston Celtics are at number three on our power rankings list. Before the start of the season, the analysts expected them to come out of the East without any difficulty but that has not been the case so far.

Although the Celtics are a great team, they are still beatable and the opposition teams have shown us that. Kyrie Irving struggled with some rough shooting nights in October but the Celtics have been fortunate to have had an easy schedule and somehow pick up wins. However, once the schedule became relatively tougher in the month of November, they have dropped games even against the teams that everyone expected them to win.

They won against the Bucks in a very close contest before taking two back-to-back losses against the Nuggets and Pacers. Few games later, they lost to Portland and Jazz and so far, the trend has been that, if Kyrie performs, they might or might not get the win but if he fails, they would end up losing or pick up the win with great difficulty.

This only talks about how Kyrie Irving is the centerpiece of this franchise and how they need him to be at his absolute best to beat tough opponents. Gordon Hayward, who came back into the NBA one year after his gruesome leg injury is still taking his time to settle.

Jayson Tatum has been great so far, just like you would expect but the real problem is their bench. Although they have the depth, the players have not showed up the way they should have thus far.

Marcus Smart has been a disappointment for the team in the first month and Terry Rozier has not made any impact and for the Celtics to have any realistic chance of winning the title, their bench definitely needs to do better.