Getty Al Horford of the Celtics
I was sitting with an opposing NBA coach at TD Garden recently, discussing how and why the Celtics had stumbled at times during their Western Conference trips. The wounds, we agreed, were largely self-inflicted — how a failure to execute with the ball would bleed into their defensive effort. How their best identity could get lost for stretches.
It was and is simple stuff. And the best news for the Bostonians is that all of this is within their power to fix. It’s been that way for a few years now, making this really a matter of will.
“That’s what makes this so crazy,” the coach said. “It’s in their hands. Most teams just don’t have the talent or the approach on either end of the floor to correct their problems. Boston does. And when you look at that roster, you’re surprised they ever have any problems in the first place. Every team has bad nights over the course of a season, but a team like this should have like one or two a month at most.”
Heading into Wednesday’s games, the Celtics still have the best record in the NBA. But a 5-7 record in their last dozen, culminating in Tuesday’s embarrassing 150-117 loss to the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-less Thunder, is at least a concerning blip.
They can say their defensive numbers were getting a lot better in December, but what they need is for their resistance to flex up and win for them when they can’t find the Boston Harbor from Long Wharf — or, on the road, the hotel pool from the diving board.
Celtics Taking Competition Too Lightly
It’s quite possible the Celts got a little drunk on their offensive success while posting unprecedented efficiency numbers in the first several weeks. But what happens when a shot or two or three doesn’t fall? Then you have to double-down on the basics, continuing to attack the paint and move the ball, then playing with even more force at the other end. Extend the defense to disrupt an opponent you may have allowed to get a little too comfortable.
Taking a step back from the court, it’s a fight, too, against human nature. It’s OK to be elite, as long as you don’t act in an elitist fashion. For most of the season, the Celtics could turn on the television and hear people matter-of-factly call them the best team in the league. That’s all fine — as long as the club remembers what it had to do to get there, still remembers the grind.
It’s an issue that even stung the Pierce-Garnett-Allen Celtics at times after they’d won in 2008. No matter how talented you are individually and collectively, you still have to set hard picks and make hard cuts on every possession. It’s part of the job. You can’t outsource it.
Once you move into the mansion, you still have to cut your own lawn. And that can be even more strenuous because it’s a bigger yard with envious teams outside the gate wanting it for themselves.
In some of this season’s losses, the Celts seem more likely to get angry with the officials than the opponent, when doing so against the latter might actually solve their problem.
It reminded me of a 2004 game in Sacramento during Doc Rivers’ first year as coach. The Celtics had blown a 20-point lead and were about to fall behind by more than that when Ricky Davis decided to argue a call. Referee Monty McCutchen held up his hand, cut him off and said, “Don’t you dare try to blame me for this.” Priceless.
That team didn’t have enough to control their own fate. The Celts of recent vintage do.
Hero Ball Still Destructive to Celtics’ Fortunes
If you look seriously at what got the club eliminated from the postseason in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 (2021 was simply a mess), it was the destructive reflex to play hero ball when the pressure was on. It doesn’t mean that players were jerks or such; the issue was born of people trying to step up and make a play to stem an opponent’s onrushing tide. But it is competitiveness and accountability with an often damaging side effect.
It’s cool to want to say, “Give me the ball and I’ll fix this.” But in so doing, that Celtic would go one-on-one, which quickly became one-on-two or three and a bad shot or turnover. You’re trying to do the right thing, but you just took your team out of its offense and probably screwed up your floor balance for getting back on D.
I can tell you for a fact that the Warriors had a strong preference for the Cavaliers to make it out of the East in 2018 when the Celts squandered Game 7 of the conference finals (at home in the Garden, no less). The C’s shot 34.1% from the floor (17.9% from 3) and scored 79 points. Cleveland got some nifty hats and T-shirts before moving on to get swept by grateful Golden State.
Four years later, the Warriors got the Celtics in The Finals. Golden State’s concerns appeared to be quite valid. Boston had a 2-1 series lead and seemed to have reasonable control in Game 4, but the Warriors pushed and the Celtics lost their poise, getting outscored 21-6 over the last six and a half minutes. They were dead Celts dribbling after that, with Golden State closing them out in six.
A little more than a month later, the gap between the mindset of these Celtics and reality was on display when Grant Williams was interviewed on Duncan Robinson’s podcast. Williams, saying the C’s would miss some shots and start forcing things, argued that the Warriors weren’t the better team, just the more disciplined team.
But isn’t discipline a major part of being a good team — a better team? In critical postseason moments, the Celtics have lacked this quality.
That they have been much improved in this department this season only made their recent slippage more glaring. The Celts are pushing the pace and moving the ball more this year than this core has ever. They’ve also stepped up in some important games (at Phoenix, home against Milwaukee) to prove what’s in them.
“I haven’t seen us let go of the rope like that.”
Jaylen Brown speaking honestly about the Celtics’ effort in Boston’s 150-117 blowout loss to the Thunder.
The problem is, when you set a standard, you have to meet it. Anything less reflects poorly. And you don’t hit the mark just because of who you are. It’s what you do — and do repeatedly.
Jaylen Brown said as much after the OKC debacle: “Who cares about what your name is? You’ve got to live up to it every single night. You’ve got to be the Boston Celtics every single night.”
Why it matters in the first week of January is that this team still has to ingrain more deeply the habits that will need to be there instinctively when things get difficult … in the playoffs, when “every single night” takes on far greater urgency.