Getty Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics and Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns.
The Boston Celtics have the best record in the league, but they have a terrible tendency to fall into bad habits. That’s exactly what happened on February 4, as the Celtics lost to the Phoenix Suns by a score of 104-96. After the game, Jaylen Brown said that Boston was simply going through the motions.
“I think they came down and outplayed us from start to finish for the most part,” Brown said post-game. “We got off to a decent start, but they outplayed us. No energy, they got more shots than we did, we were walking the ball up the floor every possession. We just didn’t have an enthusiasm tonight, just kind of going through the motions as a unit.”
All night long, Boston’s offense fell flat, as they were unable to get into any sort of rhythm. Brown led the team in scoring with 27 points, but his co-star, Jayson Tatum, didn’t find that same level of success.
Tatum ended the game with just 20 points on 3-of-15 shooting from deep, but all of his makes were three-pointers. He shot 3-of-10 from distance.
Brown went on to emphasize the importance of being able to “get up” for games no matter who the opponent is. That’s the sort of consistency the Celtics need to play with.
“Just mindset and mentality, you know? You got to be able to get up for games and match other teams’ energy,” Brown stated. “And tonight, that just didn’t happen. We played well in stretches. We played way too slow. They shot way more shots than us. They dictated the game. I think we could’ve run a lot more, played a little bit faster, got some more shots. It didn’t happen tonight.”
Celtics & Will Barton Have ‘Mutual Interest’
Internally, the Celtics need to be worried about their play and how to consistently win at a high level. However, the front office has other things to worry about at the moment. The February 9 trade deadline is closing in, and after that, there’s the buyout market.
According to Keith Smith of CelticsBlog, the Celtics and Washington Wizards wing Will Barton have “mutual interest” should the veteran receive a buyout.
“Keep an eye on Will Barton, should he work a buyout with the Washington Wizards,” Smith wrote. “A source told CelticsBlog, ‘There’s some mutual interest there. Barton would give them another scorer off the bench, and he has big game experience too.’…Chris Haynes reported on the #thisleague Uncut podcast that it’s increasingly likely Barton won’t finish the season with the Wizards. That makes him a buyout target for the Celtics.”
Celtics Predicted to Trade for Big Man
While Jakob Poeltl has been heavily linked to the Celtics, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report believes Boston will look to trade Payton Pritchard for a lower-cost big man ahead of the deadline.
“It won’t be a major-ish acquisition in the vein of Jakob Poeltl that necessitates the inclusion of a 2025 first-rounder,” Favale wrote. “It probably won’t even be a deal that sees them use their $5.9 million traded player exception (expires Feb. 10) without jettisoning other money in the process. But it will be a move that sees them use some combination of Pritchard, Danilo Gallinari’s contract (2023-24 player option) and second-rounders to reel in someone like Naz Reid, Mason Plumlee or Isaiah Hartenstein.”