Irving has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of his knee injury. How far do the Celtics' odds plummet as a result?
The Boston Celtics' season has been a tough one.
The misfortune started with the season-ending injury to Gordon Hayward on the opening night of the 2017-18 NBA season, but the Celtics persevered, winning 19 of their first 23 games through November. Boston was also 30-10 entering the 2018 calendar year.
But the injuries kept coming. They lost Daniel Theis to a knee injury (a bigger deal than it may seem) and Marcus Smart to a thumb injury, and a slew of other key players have missed multiple games from other ailments and injuries.