Even though they managed to steal one game on a buzzer-beater, the Boston Celtics looked massively overwhelmed by the power of the Eastern Conference powerhouse, the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, it can be said that their effort was held back by injuries. Their best player, Isaiah Thomas, was hurt and only played the first game and the first half of the second game, and now there are more information coming from Boston about other injured players.

According to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, two very important parts of the Boston team have been suffering through injuries as well. Al Horford, the newest acquisition of Boston, has been battling an injured elbow, and that would kind of explain why he was so silent in the whole series against the Cavs.

Marcus Smart, on the other hand, has been having back issues for a while and it is an injury that he just cannot shake off. These issues did not start against the Cavaliers, as Smart had these problems even in the series with the Wizards.

Other players plagued by injuries in the Boston roster were Avery Bradley and the rookie, Jaylen Brown. Both of them had hip issues, but they were not as severe as the ones Isaiah Thomas had, since both Bradley and Brown played all five games and both put up pretty great numbers.

However, injuries were hardly the reason why the Celtics lost this series. They looked overmatched by the super team from Ohio and only a once-in-a-lifetime bad game from LeBron James, along with the lucky buzzer-beating shot by Avery Bradley, and the unusually good showing from Marcus Smart from downtown, kept the Celtics from getting swept.

This year was clearly not the focus for Danny Ainge and his troops, as he is more geared for the future. With multiple Brooklyn Nets picks still ready to be claimed, life is going to be good for Boston in the future. However, issues will arise with multiple players waiting for better deals – Bradley and Thomas are on super-cheap deals and it will be hard to decide who to keep and who will get the big bucks, especially after Al Horford takes around $26 million in cap space for the next couple of years.