Another game? Another defeat for Boston at home, this time in the hands of the Pacers (117-113). If Tyrese Haliburton was disgusting at TD Garden, the Celtics were even more disgusting: the 5th defeat of Jayson Tatum and his friends in 6 games, we are far from the magic of November.
But where is the team at the start of the NBA season?
Radiant and dominant, the Celtics army had both hands on the wheel of the League, already looking ahead to June and the NBA Finals.
The record was imperial, 21 wins in 26 games, Tatum leading the race for MVP, from the great green to the good looks.
And then, for a few days, it’s been total misery. The well-oiled, concentrated and collective team that we knew gave way to a disinterested group, lacking in energy and success, which forgets its fundamentals and is taken in by opponents who are more combative and motivated by the encounter.
Latest example? The Pacers, who came to win at TD Garden this Wednesday night, 117 to 113.
Tyrese Haliburton’s attacks followed those of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, after seeing the Clippers and Warriors give them a nice correction. And the TD Garden crowd couldn’t help but let their players know, with the boos falling like a shower on Al Horford’s teammates that night.
Something is wrong in Boston, and it will quickly be necessary to find what.
Pure class at TD Garden ????pic.twitter.com/6oR2YUu72L
— Caesars Sportsbook (@CaesarsSports) December 22, 2022
Here are Boston’s last 6 games.
5 defeats, 1 timid victory.
Next matches?
– 1 against Minnesota
– 1 against the Bucks for Christmas pic.twitter.com/iXkoojsIjd— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) December 22, 2022
Shooting success is, visually as well as numerically, not there at all.
The staff who returned their shots with their eyes closed? Far from us today, with a pitiful 41% shooting success over these last 6 games, including 29% at three-pointers.
Race result, everything is different. You can do chicken and egg, attack leading to defense or defense leading to attack, it’s all different. The defensive intensity is different, the urge to feed his unmarked buddy is different, the overall mood has changed in Boston. And this thirst for collective success gives way to ugly monsters that we observed a year ago, when the Celtics lacked cohesion and leadership.
Not enough to sound the alarm, clearly not, but signs that do not reassure while other teams seem to be doing better.
The problem is that there does not seem to be anyone to sound the revoltas Marcus Smart can do occasionally, he who was absent that night.
The success of the start of the season, in the form of a collective rebound after the Ime Udoka affair, is it leaving to give way to new heartbreaking subjects? Are there any unforeseen weaknesses lurking in the Celtics locker room? One thing is certain, it grows behind and there is little time for Boston to recover seriously.
The Cavs and Nets are firing on all cylinders, closing the gap to Boston and feeling the beast is hurt. The Bucks, this Sunday for Christmas, have the opportunity to push a little more Jaylen Brown and his friends. Where to start ? And where to go? Joe Mazzulla will have to find the answers. Because this kind of slope, we know it, and it does not bode well in the long term.
