The Current State Of Celtics Basketball Makes Me Want To Vomit

Entering the season there were a series of questions we all were curious about. Would the chemistry be better? Would Kemba be able to replace Kyrie's All NBA production? Would Tatum/Jaylen take leaps? Would Brad have a pulse this season? So far we've had some pretty good answers to those questions. There's one still out there though that we hadn't really seen up until this point.

How would the Celtics handle adversity?

Last year as we know, not well. Now that the Celtics have decided to have their worst stretch of the season, their first 3 game losing streak and another brutal head to head loss against a division opponent, we're about to see how they respond. Will they figure out a way to snap out of it and get back to the team we've seen for 90% of the season, or will they continue to find ways to get in their own way, make no adjustments and only let this spiral. I get it, people have been freaking out ever since the game ended last night and you have every right to be pissed off with the product we are seeing right now. You think I like it? I haven't slept in a week. Their play since Christmas has been beyond frustrating, even in the games they've won. They are going through their mid season rut like pretty much every single team does. It's January, they are 25-11, things are not a disaster no matter what the radio or Twitter tells you. We all need to understand that.

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But at the same time, this shit is unacceptable and they should not be let off the hook. That doesn't mean blow it up, but it also doesn't mean pretend like what we are seeing is OK. The enery/effort/defense has been abysmal for a while now, the offense can't stop looking like dogshit and the two Jays are in a big time slump. When that happens you're going to lose, simple as that. It doesn't mean they need to do anything drastic, it just means they need to play to their averages. Is that so hard? Apparently at the moment, yes.

I have some bad news. Between now and the end of the season, the Celtics are going to lose more games. I know it's crazy to think, but it's true. What's also true is whatever happens in January does not guarantee anything come Spring. For example, if this team beats MIL next week it will mean absolutely nothing in terms of their playoff chances. They'll be 2-0 vs MIL and I'll still have that mindset. The same way losing to the Sixers or Spurs or whoever in January does not guarantee anything come Spring. That's not how it works. There are going to be peaks and valleys this entire year, but I'm not going to lose my shit over a team that is currently on pace for a top 3 seed and 56 wins. You shouldn't be either. They aren't perfect, they can make tweaks and play a 10000000x better, but everyone needs to take a deep breath.

With that said, let's dive in.

The Good

- You would think not having this section after the Spurs blog would have been enough to motivate everyone, but since it wasn't I am going to do myself and you a favor and self medicate with some actual highlights. Sure maybe only two players played well for the Celtics in this game and you know what? That's more than enough for me to just watch these videos a billion times 

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It was a nice prayer that Kemba didn't seriously injure his thumb, and while it was a bit of the same old story with Kemba against PHI where he's lights out in the first half and then a little quiet in the second, it was his 3rd quarter explosion that helped the Celtics actually stay in this game. I'll take 50% shooting and 5 3PM, it was just clear he was out of gas by the fourth. That was annoying.

With Smart, I mean this is just what he is. You're going to get a random night where he seems to be lights out from three, he always seems to shoot well against the Sixers which is really random considering their length, and even if almost all of his threes were the "NO NO NO NO YES!" variety, at least he made them. He wasn't all that great in almost every other area, but at least his shot was dropping.

- That first quarter was cool huh? Great energy, great ball movement on offense, an actual sign of life on defense, who would have thought that stuff actually works? Shame they didn't also try the same approach in the following three quarters. 

- That's it. That's all they get. Let's move on.

The Bad

- I mean there's no other way to say it. The Sixers own the 2019-20 Celtics at this moment. If you don't want to admit that or are still bringing up shit from prior seasons in an effort to respond to Sixers fans trolling, that's pathetic. Call a spade a spade. They have outplayed this team in every single one of their matchups. One didn't have Horford, the other didn't have Embiid. It didn't matter. In games we have needed our best players to step up and come through, they have done the exact opposite on both ends. When it came time to make a momentum play to shift the game late in a fourth quarter, the Celts are not the ones making that push. Own it. We all talked shit for the last like 6 years dogging the Sixers every chance we could because the H2H was so one sided, myself included. Now it isn't. Simple as that. 

We have no idea if this H2H series will even matter come seeding, there's still a decent gap between the two, but there isn't exactly a positive spin when it comes to dropping 3 straight against this team. Back to backs in two of the three really don't matter to me if we're being honest. I expect this Celtics team to win when they get up by 15 points. Why? Because they were 20-0 when getting up by 10+ prior to last night. 

- Josh Richardson abused Marcus Smart. Nobody spent more time on Richardson than Smart, and he finished 3-4 against Marcus and was responsible for 14 total team points. It became clear right away that Richardson was going to be aggressive and there was no adjustment by the players or Brad to slow him down. When things got to the fourth quarter he ate the drop coverage from Kanter alive and finished the quarter 5-8 for 14 points. There's your ballgame. Why not try some possessions with Jaylen/Tatum on him given their length? We basically never saw that. 

- 17 assists on 38 baskets is so infuriating. Especially when 6 of those came in the first quarter. What we've seen during this slump is when things get stagnant offensively and the ball doesn't move, this team can't score. When this team doesn't score and has a 1 pass/1 shot trip, they give up easy buckets on the other end. Now the momentum is starting to shift and this offense panics, which leads to more hero ball and isolation home run plays that never work and the next thing you know things have snowballed. 

For years we have seen the Celtics offense struggle when they move to a hero approach. When the ball isn't moving and guys aren't cutting this team becomes so much easier to defend. Maybe this is Brad, maybe this is the players just taking things into their own hands, but whatever it is it's not working and hasn't really since Christmas. The Celts have the 16th best offense since 12/25 and the 21st AST%. Something tells me those things are related.

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- Call me crazy but I'm going to need Jaylen Brown to go strong at the rim in transition when only Furkan Korkmaz is standing in his way. What I don't need is him passing it to a corner three for Semi, and what I definitely don't need is Semi taking that shot. Everyone in that play had to know the situation. It's no surprise that the Sixers went right down and hit a big momentum three on the other end. Those are the sort of momentum plays I'm talking about and things the Celtics haven't done against this team all year. 

- I mean, on what planet is this even remotely acceptable?

This isn't the first time we've seen this during the losing streak and it's why I feel like it's unfair to put this all on one player. IT'S EVERYONE. Your four most important players all played like dogshit on both ends. When that all happens at the same time, no shit you're going to get embarrassed on the road. Until the main guys on this team snap out of it, there is no trade that is going to make a difference. Interesting how when those guys play well, the Celtics win. Almost like when your good players are themselves the team looks a whole lot different. Interesting.

- 8 FTA is nowhere near enough. Jaylen didn't take any, Kemba had 1, Hayward didn't take any. Last time I checked Embiid didn't play yet it did not feel like this team attacked the basket. To me, that's on Brad. The only one that did (Tatum) was rewarded with 6 FTA. Maybe try that a little more, especially when you couldn't fucking shoot in the second half.

- The start of the third quarter was the exact way this team cannot play. Sloppy turnovers led to easy buckets, that shifted the momentum and their lead was gone in a blink of an eye. Almost half of their FGA were threes because they were freaking out, and they were lucky they made 5 of them, but every starter not named Kemba came out flat. That just can't happen. You know PHI is going to come out swinging, and I did not get the sense that the Celtics were interested in matching that intensity. That's annoying.

The Ugly

- Obviously we can't not talk about how terrible Jaylen/Hayward/Tatum were offensively in this game. At least Tatum showed some energy on the glass and defensively, but on the other end? Woof city

Hayward: 4-11

Tatum: 4-13

Jaylen: 2-12

You aren't beating dick when that happens and when you watch it a big part of why they struggle in my opinion is the degree of difficulty of their shots. Instead of going hard, they are settling for tough turnaround contested fadeaways, Jaylen and Tatum can't throw a pea in the ocean right now even on wide open looks. They are slumping, there is no way to deny that. This team goes as their young wings go, and it's no surprise that this losing streak is coming at the same time when the two Jays are shooting like 5% from the floor. 

Now with every loss you of course are going to hear the 'TRADE HAYWARD FOR A CENTER!" hot takes. I don't know why people are only fixated on Hayward when he wasn't even the worst one last night. It's almost like one bad game from him makes his entire season not exist. Newsflash he's averaging 16/4/5 on 50% shooting this season as the 4th option in terms of usage. He's been more than fine. Not amazing, not terrible, and certainly not a disaster. I don't know if it's because people don't want to give proper heat to the two Jays because they are the future, but they're play since Christmas has been way more of a factor in their struggles than what we're seeing from Hayward. You may not want to hear that but it's true. This is what Hayward has done against good teams this year

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and this is how the 4 best players have all looked against PHI this season

Your issue is that the Jays are struggling with PHI's length, they are missing layups and are pressing from the outside. Your problem is not a dude averaging 17 a game on 47% shooting. Hayward stunk last night, there is no denying that, but let's not ignore others who deserve just as much heat if not more.

- The Lakers, the Sixers (twice), the Raptors, the Nuggets, the Rockets all have something in common. What is it? They've ALL lost 3 games in a row this season. Should they blow their teams up and trade everyone? Are they a first round exit? No. So please, everyone just calm the fuck down. Those are some of the best teams in the NBA this season, this shit happens to EVERYONE. The fact that there are Celtics fans that think this team is above losing 3 in a row in January and when they do it's time for complete panic is insane to me. It's a long season, teams go in ruts. 

What I need is for this team to wake the fuck up and stop playing like assholes. They don't need to be perfect, but they need to be a hell of a lot better than what we're seeing. You can jump ship if you want, you can discredit the previous 32 games of the season, that's your choice. Just know there is no hopping back on.