Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was not at all amused by what he saw from the Boston Celtics in their 133-128 overtime win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
On Wednesday’s edition of First Take, Smith went off on the Celtics’ offense, saying he was “disgusted” with how their offense looked at home against Indiana. He believes that it comes down to coaching and the fact that head coach Joe Mazzulla simply isn’t up to the task of elevating the team the way that his predecessor, Ime Udoka, was.
“Well, I’m disgusted with them because I think their offense looks awful. Somebody’s got to say it so I’ll say it: The offense looks awful. And I’ve been on the record, unapologetically so, that as much as I respect Joe Mazzulla and the job that he’s done… I think if Ime Udoka was still the head coach they’d be champions by now. They possibly could have won it last year. That’s how I feel about them. There is a difference between what Ime Udoka had the Boston Celtics looking like and what they look like offensively…” Smith said.
Smith’s comments seemed to confuse a lot of people, as many in the replies to the video pointed out that the Celtics had the best regular season record in the NBA and scored 133 points against the Pacers last night.
Nevertheless, the Celtics are clearly not a perfect team and there does appear to be room for improvement.
It really makes you wonder if they would have looked even worse if they were playing a healthy Knicks, 76ers or Bucks in the playoffs.