The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, and for the Boston Celtics to make a run to the 2018 NBA Finals, they need to add a quality scorer to their roster.
The C’s were embarrassed Tuesday night in Toronto with a 111-91 loss to the Raptors. The Celtics had no answers for the Raptors’ hot shooting and deep, high-scoring bench.
The Celtics have struggled offensively for most of the season. Their offensive rating is just 104.6 (20th in the league), but they’ve been able to stay atop the Eastern Conference standings because of their league-leading defensive rating and several double-digit comeback wins.
The C’s have one reliable scorer in Kyrie Irving, but when he’s not scoring at an efficient rate, Boston’s job becomes a lot tougher. Al Horford positively impacts the game in plenty of areas, but he’s not a volume scorer. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have shown flashes of offensive excellence, but it’s unwise for a top contender to depend on first- and second-year players to be focal points of the offense. The bench has been hit or miss all season.
The Celtics are one of just three teams currently in a playoff spot in the East that doesn’t have two players averaging at least 15 points per game.
The main goal for the Celtics before Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline is to acquire a scorer, preferably someone who can come off the bench and create his own offense by attacking the basket and/or consistently knocking down 3-point shots.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams is the ideal target, but he won’t be acquired for cheap. Williams is scoring 23.3 points with 5.3 assists per game this season, and he’s shooting 38 percent on 3-point shots and 90 percent on free throws.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans is another good trade target for Boston. He’s averaging 19.5 points per game and shooting 39.2 percent from beyond the arc, but he hasn’t shown the offensive consistency throughout his career that Williams has.
The Celtics are an elite defensive team and their rebounding will improve when veteran center Greg Monroe officially is signed. The area that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge must address is offense, and with a plethora of draft picks and young players to trade, he has the assets to pull off a deal that gives the C’s a great chance to win the East.
And with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers looking like a severely weakened opponent, why shouldn’t the Celtics be aggressive at the trade deadline?
Here are some other notes from Celtics-Raptors.
— Toronto has won five straight games at home against Boston, including nine wins in its last 10 versus the Celtics at Air Canada Centre.
The Raptors now are just one game behind the Celtics for the No. 1 seed in the East. Toronto is 22-4 at home this season, so homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs could be a huge factor for them in May. This is why it’s important for the Celtics to finish ahead of the Raptors in the standings to make sure a potential Game 7 in a playoff series is played at TD Garden and not the ACC.
— The Raptors bench was the difference Tuesday. The unit scored 59 points, led by C.J. Miles pouring in 20. The Celtics bench scored 51 points, but a lot of those points came in garbage time because Brad Stevens didn’t play his starters in the fourth quarter. Toronto’s reserves were key to its second-quarter run that blew the game open.
— Speaking of that second quarter, Toronto outscored Boston 36-19 in the frame, tying the most points the C’s have give up in a single quarter all season. The Raptors shot 5-for-8 from 3-point land, out-rebounded the C’s 10-13 and outscored them 14-6 in the paint during the second quarter.
