Just When You Think The Celtics Couldn't Get Any Worse, They Somehow Found A Way To Reach A New Low

David Berding. Getty Images.

I'll be honest, heading into the season I didn't really have any interest in answering the question of how many worst losses of the season can you have before you even get to New Years. With a few more games to go so this could change, we now know the answer to that question is about 6. To someone who may not be watching this season, having 1/3 of your losses be the worst loss of the season might seem dramatic, but it's honestly the truth. Even with all the collapses and choke jobs we've seen through this point of the season, none of them, not a single goddamn one compares to what we witnessed last night. How could it? In a game where we saw the Celts start 3 of their normal 5 guys, they could not beat a Wolves team that was literally put together the morning of the game. Again, I'm not being dramatic or embellishing for effect. That is literally what happened

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If that doesn't signify the worst and most embarrassing loss of the season, what possibly could? I mean what are we doing here. Is there no sense of pride? Where is the fire from anyone on this roster to step up and say "OK, enough of this bullshit"? Let's start there. There are basketball related issues that need to be tweaked and all that, but let's start with the simple mental approach. Who is going to step up and say enough is enough? We hear all the same quotes after each one of these type of losses but the last time I checked, actions speak louder than words. It's one thing to try and beat the Warriors without half your roster, or a fully healthy Bucks team. Fine. That is NOT what last night was. The Wolves basically threw out a G League team. The Celts had more than enough to win that game, yet they couldn't. We all knew once things got to the fourth quarter that they would blow it. So what I want to know is what it takes for this team to get sick and tired of these type of performances to the point where they actually get their head out of their ass. If we as fans feel it, how can they not? The only difference is we can't do a thing about it. People can tweet about how things need to be blown up, I can write blogs like this, but at the end of the day, it is on the coaching staff and the players to actually do it. While you may not be able to predict who might be in the lineup on any given night, that is still no excuse for how this team is losing games. 

I don't expect much, but I expect a roster that was available last night to be able to beat a G League team. There has to be some sort of baseline expectation here and I feel like that's at least a reasonable place to start. There is no excusing a performance like we saw last night. Everyone from Ime to the last player on the bench should be embarrassed with themselves. It is not November. It's January. Figure it the fuck out.

The Good

- You're out of your damn mind if you think I am wasting any internet ink on this section. For what I think is the first time in 7 years of writing this blog, I am once again breaking one of the founding rules. We used to skip the Good section when the team lost 5 in a row, the same way we skip the Ugly section when they win 5 in a row. It's a treat.

This is now the second time this season I am doing this without said losing streak. You don't think I want to talk about Pritchard's emergence or how great Grant is shooting the ball? Of course I do. I need anything positive right now. But if you can't beat a G League team then I will not spinzone for you. A man has to take a stance at some point.

The Bad

- OK, where does everyone want to begin? If it's OK with all of you, I'd like to start with the play of Jaylen Brown. That in my opinion was the biggest domino of the night for this team. Quite frankly, Jaylen had probably the worst game of his season. With no Tatum in the lineup, that's obviously not the version of Jaylen anyone was hoping for, but sadly it was the one we got. What we saw was a player who is still not ready to be a primary ball handler/playmaker. There was no real sense of how to initiate offense, the passing was straight up bad (6 TOs), and then you add in the 8-24 (2-8) shooting and it only gets worse.

To dig in a little deeper, when they needed their best player to step up in the fourth quarter, Jaylen disappeared for the second straight game. We can't kill Tatum for this when he does it and then give Jaylen a pass. He finished jut 1-6 (0-3) with 3 missed FTs in that final frame. The defense wasn't any better. With nobody having any idea how long Tatum will be out, Jaylen is going to continue to be the highest usage player on this roster. He's averaging nearly 4.0 TOs a game since his return which I would classify as a problem. If the ball is going to be in his hands this much (35.6% usage last night), he cannot be this careless with the basketball. 

While it was good to see Jaylen take accountability for his performance after the game

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that doesn't really change the reality of what happened on the court. Now obviously out of frustration, you're getting a lot of "trade Jaylen!" bullshit this morning/last night, which is expected. I dunno, maybe the solution isn't trading someone but rather that player simply playing better. A crazy concept I know, but it seems reasonable.

This performance sort of reminded me of Tatum's early season. Given how this roster is built initially and then when you add in these new covid absences, the Celts cannot afford for their best player to be such a negative. No shit they are going to lose when that happens. On a night where they needed Jaylen to carry, he didn't.

- But he surely wasn't the only one who fits this description. Up next I'm looking at Rob Williams. There is no excuse for Rob to not dominate this game given who was on the other side. Greg Monroe wasn't in the league for 2.5 years and he abused the shit out of Rob. Nobody had any idea who the fuck Nathan Knight was and he may as well have been Wilt going up against Rob. He finished a -17 which was the second worst +/- on the roster. Where was that discipline defensively that we've seen Rob have basically all year? 

So just add it up. Your two best players last night turned in two absolute dogshit performances on both ends. Against G League competition. I don't know how anyone couldn't be frustrated with that. For me it's because I see how well they perform against elite competition. I don't know if they didn't take their opponent seriously, I don't know if Rob let fouls get in his head or what, but I'd probably chalk this up to his worst performance of the year as well. 

- Now let's talk about the defense. You'll be shocked to know that in each of the last 3 Celtics losses (all chokes), we see a common theme. Their second half defense is nonexistent. The numbers speak for themselves

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Look at those numbers again. Who the hell do the Celtics think they are going to beat in this league with that type of defensive effort and execution? I'll remind you, the Wolves started the fourth quarter shooting 11/12 from the floor. Here's the truly annoying part of last night. They had plenty of capable defenders! Guys like Jaylen/Rob/Al/Grant/Romeo are all plus defenders. They were all active in this game, so there's no excuse to be that poor. It's why this was basically the first thing Ime said postgame

Everything with this team will always come back to the defensive end. When they look good and are winning games, it's because of their defense. When they can't seem to beat your local JCC pick up team, it's because they cannot stop a nosebleed. Mostly, defense is about effort. There are some scheme things you work through, but overall it's an effort thing to me. Knowing that, explain shit like this

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You can't. It's a pathetic effort from everyone involved and there were multiple plays just like this. We know the offense is going to be hot and cold, especially without Tatum in the lineup. That is why the identity of this team has to be on the defensive end. When they don't execute on that end, nothing else matters. Making shots is great, but it does nothing if you can't then turn around and get stops. 

The later the Celts get in a game, the worse their defense seems to get. When things get into winning time, this team basically forgets everything they know defensively

1st quarter: 107 Drtg (13th)

2nd quarter: 104 Drtg (7th)

3rd quarter: 107 Drtg (8th)

4th quarter: 113 Drtg (27th)

Just think back to each part of the season so far we've seen the Celtics struggle. What has been the common theme? Terrible defense. The better parts? They've had a top 5 defense. That feels related.

- Celts got destroyed in the paint (50-26), destroyed in fastbreak points (19-3), and lost the 2nd chance points battle as well (15-11). That's just losing basketball no matter who you are playing, apparently even G League guys. The fact that the Wolves roster was able to do stuff like that is beyond embarrassing. 

- Missing 5 fourth quarter FTs just to twist the knife was so predictable. The second we saw them miss their first two threes to open the fourth and then Romeo missed those two FTs from the line, we all knew how that game was going to end.

The Ugly

- I feel like starting with Romeo's -32 is a good place to start this section. What a wild game for Romeo. To start, he was awesome defensively. He had 2 blocks and 4 steals in his 14 first half minutes. From there? Absolute disaster. No other way to say it. He finished the second half a -21 and he was a -15 alone in the fourth quarter. That huge airball late certainly wasn't great. Then you add in the two missed FTs and you saw that defensive clip above. That was pretty brutal considering he played 11:46 of that fourth quarter. You just can't be that much of a negative when you're on the floor. If you aren't going to be a threat offensively, you need to hold your own on the defensive end. Just like he did in the first half. What happened in the second half was the complete opposite. Not only was the offense not there, the defense disappeared. 

While Romeo shows flashes of what his potential could be, we aren't really in a position to wait around for that potential. If the Celts were winning games, sure. Let Romeo grow. But that has not happened. It's why I would not be shocked if we see Brad explore more NBA proven options for that roster spot. Maybe he develops into something and we regret it later, but we're at the point where they need to start swapping potential for a proven commodity. The same is true for Nesmith. 

- Ah yes, the fourth quarter. Before we dive in, here's a quick update on how this team ranks in that final frame

Yup, still absolutely pathetic! Once again we saw a team that basically did not have a plan offensively. At least I hope that's the case and what we saw wasn't actually Ime's plan. I mean the Celts took 22 FGA in the fourth quarter and 14 of them were 3PA. They finished 2-14. Where are the pick and rolls? Where is the off ball movement? Where are the post ups? Where is literally ANYTHING OTHER than hoping Jabari Parker and Sam Hauser hit prayer threes? What have we seen from Ime that tells us he has any idea what to do in these moments? It's on the players to execute and not turn the ball over. It's on the coach to have a strategy and put them in positions to succeed. Neither happen.

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What happened is what always does when the Celts play this way. They miss, it allows for easy buckets/momentum swinging plays for their opponent, then the Celts panic and try and make up for it by taking MORE threes, only to miss those also and see the lead balloon. How many possessions did we see the Celts basically just pass it along the perimeter for 14 seconds, then realize things are under 10 and the ball hasn't even touched the paint and they are forced into shooting a three? I felt like that was every time down the floor. 

For me, the momentum shift first began in the last minute of the 3rd quarter. The Celts were up 8 and Jaylen threw the ball out of bounds. Then, Juancho got beat backdoor (shocker!) for an AND1 and it was down to 5. They held a fourth quarter lead for a total of 90 seconds. They trailed for the final 9:19 of this game. So, up 8 with the ball and a minute left in the 3rd quarter and all it took was a total of 2 minutes of game time later and it was tied. That is so embarrassing. It was the same old culprit. Bad TOs, bad defense, and a worse offensive strategy. Not surprisingly they choked away their 3rd loss in a row playing that way. 

I said heading into December that it was a month where we would learn what this team was. While injuries and covid issues may have fucked with their lineup, what we learned is that right now, they stink. We learned that they have the talent to hang with any good team in the league, but they can't close. That is their identity right now. That doesn't mean it will stay that way, but that's where they are right now. They are an average team at best when they play this way that has more nights of flirting with below average than above. Until the players decide to do something about it, things will not change. We've seen what they look like when they play to their potential, it's reason for optimism. But if they refuse to consistently play to that potential, then what good is it.