Subscribe
Follow Us
With their recent struggles early this season, Kyrie Irving says that the Boston Celtics need to find a ‘happy balance' in their offensive sets. The Celtics did just that when they carved out a much-needed win against the league-leading Toronto Raptors.
Sporting News' Sean Deveney wrote about the Celtics' big win, including Kyrie's comments on how his team could get over the hump.
“I think we have to find a happy balance,” Irving said, “between taking some good 3s rather than just waiting for the great ones to come, and then just attacking the basket. … Any time we go to the rim like that, that’s when our runs start. When we’re attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line, we’re a totally different team.”
Irving had every reason to pick out his team's recent difficulties in offense. Despite the offensive talent in their roster, the Celtics are just ranked 20th in the league in points per game (106.7). To make matters worse, the team's more important players are struggling individually.
With a bevy of good scorers around him, you would think that Gordon Hayward wound find it easier to put up shots, right? The answer is a resounding no. Hayward is averaging a career-low in field goal percentage (39%) and his 31% clip from beyond the arc is his lowest since 2014. While we already assumed that Hayward's scoring will take a dip this season, nobody expected that it would drastically decrease. The former All-Star is just putting up 10.4 points per game.
Hayward's case is just a testament to the Celtics' failure to find the right combinations on their offensive attacks. But the team has found some sort of rhythm with a double-digit win over the Chicago Bulls and a huge victory over the Raptors.
