Fansided

The Whiteboard: Should the Boston Celtics or Houston Rockets be more worried?

By Ti Windisch

BOSTON, MA - DECEMBER 28: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets handles the ball against Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celticsl on December 28, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - DECEMBER 28: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets handles the ball against Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celticsl on December 28, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets have both started the 2018-19 NBA season slowly, but which team should be more concerned?

The Boston Celtics won 67.1 percent of their games last season, while the Houston Rockets were winners a whopping 79.3 percent of the time they played in the regular season. Both Boston and Houston currently sit at 50 percent this year, with the Celtics 10-10 and Houston 9-9.

Neither franchise is winning at the rates they were expected to this season, so which one should be more worried? The answer depends partly on perspective, as the teams seem to have different reasons for their struggles.

Houston simply doesn’t have the glut of shooters that last year’s team possessed. Trevor Ariza, Luc Mbah a Moute, and even Ryan Anderson being gone means the Rockets are down three shooters, with only Gary Clark and James Ennis stepping in as reliable options that Houston didn’t have last season.

Combined with Eric Gordon’s early-season shooting slump, the Rockets have themselves a problem from long range. Houston is taking roughly one less three-pointer per game than last season and is just 24th in the NBA in 3-point percentage after finishing 10th last year.

Those are real problems, but they have somewhat obvious solutions. If the Rockets can add another shooter either via trade or the buy-out market and if Gordon gets back to form, Houston should improve markedly. There’s a blueprint to get back on track.

SUBSCRIBE. Get The Whiteboard delivered daily to your email inbox. light

The Boston Celtics have no such easy route back to winning ways. The Celtics should be better than they were last season, with Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving both active, and yet things just don’t seem to be clicking in Boston. Quotes coming from various Celtics are full of frustration — why on earth is this team not winning games?

Unless everybody but Irving somehow regressed rapidly, the issue is Boston’s pieces just not clicking correctly. Brad Stevens has tried bringing Hayward off the bench as he works himself back into form, but the Celtics just haven’t found any sort of consistency this year.

It’s still definitely possible that Boston figures it out and snaps into gear, but there is no obvious roadmap to getting there. That means the Celtics should probably be more worried, as their early struggles make less sense than Houston’s do.

#Content you can’t miss

He could make a lot of sense in Houston; Phil Watson analyzes reports that DeMarre Carroll could be on the trade block

Quirks in the season thus far; A crew of New York Times reporters and sportswriters share their biggest early-season surprises across the NBA

Even more surprises; Frank Urbina picks nine players who have been quietly very good this NBA season

Hard not to feel for Fultz; Matt Rutkowski describes the fear he experiences when watching Markelle Fultz

Avoiding a knee-jerk; John Kelly thinks the Kings should stand by Dave Joerger

Home/NBA