The Celtics Once Again Couldn't Execute Down The Stretch And Lose Both Games In Philly

David Dow. Getty Images.

It's important as you go through a season to have perspective. For example, should Celtics fans be overly worked up about dropping both games in Philly? I'd say no, not having your best player is kind of a big deal since he is someone who impacts both ends. But we also have to be fair here for a second. Had the Celts swept both of these games, we'd all be talking our shit and puffing our chest out and wouldn't be saying things like "it's early" or "yeah, but". We just wouldn't. So just because the Celts lost both, I don't think it's right to just ignore it and say it's no big deal. Every H2H loss against a division opponent and team that is going to be in the mix for a top 4 seed is important. Period. They aren't just a big deal when the Celtics win. 

That's why more than anything, this is just annoying. Annoying that they could compete in both games against a Sixers team that did have their two best players only to poop their pants in the later stages of both games. Would things have been different if Tatum was there? Maybe, but I won't accept the idea that what the Celts had available to them last night wasn't enough. When they don't play like assholes and have self inflicted wounds from either bad turnovers or careless play, they were in a position to win. It once again came down to late game execution and once again this team came up short. 

This is why I was so adamant that you shouldn't focus too much on the 45 FTA from the first game. The officials were not why the Celtics lost these games. Their lack of defense in both games is why they lost. Their carelessness is why they lost. Their inability to close is why they lost. Those are the things that concern me moving forward. The good news is the player set to come back will help with all those things, but in the meantime, a two game series like what we just watched is simply annoying above anything else.

Give credit to the Sixers, they played well in both games. Not just Embiid, but the secondary players as well. The Celts didn't get that same level of production and it cost them. So if their fans want to talk shit on Twitter and drop the confetti, they earned it. It's not like they get to do this stuff in the playoffs, so let them have it. They showed up when it mattered and earned both wins.

The Celts, well they need to be a little careful here. Now dropping 3 straight and a date with the red hot Cavs up next who just swept their BKN two game series, this could balloon pretty quick, especially if they don't figure out their defensive issues.

OK, enough stalling. Let's get into it.

The Good

- If there is one positive takeaway from this frustrating time in Philly, it's that Jaylen Brown is for real

Tying his career high with 42 with an efficient 16-28 (5-8), Jaylen Brown has continued to play at not just an All Star level, but an All NBA level. This is why it's hard to be so mad despite the losses. The two Jays are having incredible seasons and when this team has both at their disposal it changes everything. The impressive part is that despite everyone on the planet knowing Jaylen is really the only consistent offensive option, there was still no answer for him defensively. In the first game, he went 7-7 against Simmons. In this game, the Sixers put Danny Green on him as the primary defender, and Jaylen lit that matchup up for 11 points on 4-9 (3-4). My biggest takeaway is that I'm not sold the Sixers have anyone that can consistently guard either wing. That's going to be important.

When I talk about this team not closing, I am not talking about Jaylen Brown. He had 13 points on 5-7 in the third quarter and 12 points on 4-7 shooting in the fourth quarter. He showed up offensively. But what I love about Jaylen is that despite his great game, he's not settling

Leader. That's what I see when I hear those quotes.

- Another good sign that's very important. Kemba looks like Kemba.

The burst is there, he was 8-16 from the floor in his 29 minutes, and seeing as how this was the biggest question heading into the Celtics season, it's a relief to see him look like the same old guy. His outside shooting struggled a little bit in this game (1-7), but it's his 3rd game back and I'd say he's looked really good in two of them. He also only had 1 TO and 3 steals so it's hard to not be pleased with how Kemba is performing as he gets his legs under him. For this team to reach their potential, they need a fully healthy Kemba I think that goes without saying.

- I thought this team played really food defense for the first 24 minutes. The bad news is NBA basketball games are actually 48 minutes. I look forward to the day we see this team play a full 48 minutes of good defense against a good team. A blogger can dream right?

The Bad

- OK, I feel like that's enough fluff and we can get to the meat of this blog. We may as well start out with yet another kick right square in the dick. Yeah, we need to talk about the Payton Pritchard injury

As of the writing of this blog, we don't know what the deal is. Team said sprain, he didn't have crutches last night, but everything comes down to the MRI. Until we know that, we have no clue. My heart honestly breaks for Payton Pritchard. The kid is playing so well to start his career, is one of the biggest surprises of the entire draft, and an unfortunate shove from Dwight on Jaylen tosses him into the side of Pritchard's knee. What is with this team and their shit injury luck that happens on prayers like this? Not only that, but especially when it comes to the point guard position? I'm just going to say it, I think this might be the Isaiah Curse. How do you explain every point guard they've ever had since IT was traded somehow getting hurt? Coincidence? No thank you. Curse? Yes.

Not only is this a huge deal because Pritchard is really good, but an already thin position group is now even more thin and it's going to force this team to play a whole lot more of Jeff Teague which right now……is a complete disaster.

- I said it the other day, I don't need All Star Jeff Teague. I know that player is gone. I need a consistent and efficient 8-12 points off the bench Jeff Teague. That's it! Just help this team survive the non Kemba minutes while not being a complete horror show. Well, that's exactly what he was in both games. His 1-5 for 3 points in 17 minutes is simply not going to cut it. Especially when he makes things a billion times worse by doing shit like this

I'm sorry, now we can't even dribble the basketball? Listen, I know there are some of you out there that don't want Isaiah back, but you cannot tell me any of the Teague/Carsen/Tremont trio has done anything to show they are a better back up point guard option. You just can't. Now with Pritchard potentially missing time, back up point guard is even more important. Remember, Kemba is still on somewhat of a minutes restriction. 

To me, this looks way more like the ATL version of Teague from last year compared to last year's MIN version, and I guarantee that is not what Ainge was hoping for.

- The same can be said about Tristan Thompson. We knew he couldn't handle Embiid after the first game, but he's not doing anything. He's not rebounding, he's not defending, and he's not converting easy buckets. Suddenly he can't catch. So far this is another gamble that hasn't truly worked out as well as planned. You could argue his play is trailing both Theis and Rob and neither of them have been all that great either. For a guy that was supposed to be a versatile defender, the Celtics have the worst defense of the Brad Stevens era and while he may not be solely responsible, his lack of defense certainly hasn't helped

Where is the guy that tormented my life for years as a Cav? The one who could actually play defense and make things hard? I want that guy please.

- A pretty big blown opportunity for the Celts when it comes to cashing in off PHI turnovers. Finally, they got the Sixers to turn it over (19) but had just 19 points off them. The Sixers had 21 points off 11 BOS turnovers. There's your ballgame folks. This team couldn't make the Sixers pay for being careless and that's exactly what they did to the Celts. Very annoying.

- I think an issue not being talked about enough is that with no real consistent bench scoring threat, when the second unit is out there, nobody is really looking to score. They become easy to defend when it's just Jaylen + bench. There's no other threat for the defense to worry about because nobody is even looking to shoot. It's more like take a few dribbles, pass to Jaylen and hope he can score. We just saw in back to back games why that could be a problem.

- Very bad two game series for Grant. There's just no other way to say it.

The Ugly

- And then there was the third quarter. Once again the Celts had themselves a pretty solid first half. They competed on both ends. Enter the third quarter and boom, their defense goes to shit, they allow 42 points on 54/50% shooting, and what do you know they got sloppy with the ball (5 TOs) and it cost them. Crazy that in the second straight game having a quarter where you finish with nearly the same amount of TOs as FGM didn't exactly work out. 

This is also not something that you can blame on not having Tatum. Their third quarters have been shit even with Tatum in the lineup. This team just has a knack for turning the ball over and playing no defense at the start of these second halfs and it's killing them. 

- Despite all of that, this was a 103-100 game with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter. The Celtics had every opportunity for the second straight game to close strong and steal the win. What happened instead was the exact opposite. Marcus Smart had a weird game. Without his offense, they aren't even in that position. He had 20 points and was fairly efficient. But we can't all talk about his winning plays and then ignore when he has a stretch like he did to close this game. It all started with about 5 minutes left

Tell me I'm being unfair if you want, but this is a layup I expect Marcus Smart to make. Sure it's slightly contested and with his left hand, but I don't really care. This is a layup he can make and given the momentum and the moment, he needs to convert. But hey, the next possession Jaylen hit the three and maybe things were going to be OK. Right? Wrong. Here was Smart's next possession

Marcus Smart, All NBA defender, maybe instead of swiping and reaching because you were out of position, just play good defense. You know Simmons only wants to drive to the rim, does that look like good enough defense to you? Then, after getting beat he makes things worse by committing the foul. Momentum shifting play.

If that wasn't bad, what happened immediately after this foul was the icing on the cake

There's your ballgame. All coming within about 1 minute. Now I'm not someone who is going to scream on Twitter that Smart sucks and they need to trade him blah blah blah. Remember what I said at the beginning of the blog. Perspective is important. Having said that, we can't all love Marcus for his winning plays and then just ignore when he did nothing but make losing plays that ultimately played a huge factor in why this team lost. That fourth quarter stretch cannot happen. So while it was Smart's offense that kept them close, it was ultimately his bad 1 minute stretch here that ultimately cost them. That's just the truth.

I learned two things after this little series. First, I feel great about this matchup if both teams are fully healthy. The fact that these games were even close despite missing Tatum and then Pritchard as well is encouraging. Second, until they fix their defense, this team won't win shit. It's their #1 issue on the board right now and it doesn't matter what they look like offensively if they can't consistently get stops. We've never seen a Brad era team be this poor defensively and they need to figure it the fuck out rather quickly.