Boston Celtics' Offense Continues to Sputter

At the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Boston Celtics lost their fourth straight game for their 23rd road loss of the year in what was yet another ugly evening for the struggling Celtics. With a late comeback push, the Celtics made the score look close in a game they had no business winning. The troubles and worries on the offensive end continue for the Celtics.

The Celtics currently rank 18th in the league in points per game at an average of 96.1. One of the only positives that can be taken from last night’s loss was the fact that the Celtics finally woke up in the fourth quarter thanks to some instant offense from Jordan Crawford. Crawford managed to pretty much put the team in a decent position to win with 21 points in just 27 minutes and even manged to grab five rebounds and dish out three assists. It’s obvious that Crawford isn’t Doc Rivers‘ first choice to try to shake things up and get the offense going, but at times Rivers simply doesn’t have a choice.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are still capable of carrying a decent amount of the scoring load, but role players like Jason Terry, Jeff Green, and Avery Bradley simply have to find ways to take more efficient and higher percentage shots. Green, Terry and Bradley combined for just 9-26 shooting from the floor. Terry was especially cold last night going 2-8.

There’s simply no firepower in the Celtics’ half-court offense. Pierce can’t be a true go-to-guy anymore and if they fail to get out in transition, it simply takes too much effort to score buckets as a team. Pierce is still capable of putting the team on his back for a couple of nights a week, but defensively he looks exhausted and invisible.

The “Crawford Plan” isn’t anywhere near ideal for the Celtics in terms of offensive efficiency, but he can at times get a team going quick. If the Celtics had maybe another two or three offensive possessions last night, they could have surely came away with a huge comeback win. However, close as it was, the Celtics are now pretty much locked into a lower seed with only 13 games remaining. They may be able to jockey for a slightly better position, but for a team that’s now 12-23 on the road, the future still looks a bit dark.

 

Eric St. Cyr Covers the Boston Celtics for Rant Sports. Follow Him on Twitter @ericJsaint