1. That sucked.
It was terrible.
An entire no-show.
Your intrepid creator right here thought-about batting across the concept of merely writing “If the Celtics don’t care to indicate up, why ought to I hassle with Takeaways?”
However let’s attempt to be a bit higher.
The Boston Celtics obtained destroyed by the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder on Tuesday evening. Correction: The Boston Celtics obtained destroyed by the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder with out star participant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
On the finish of the Takeaways from the loss on the Denver Nuggets, we wrote the next:
The Celtics now head to play on the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. The Thunder aren’t a great workforce, however they’ve sufficient expertise to journey up good groups who don’t present up. Boston can’t go in anticipating that merely arriving on the area is sufficient. With a giant sport looming towards Luka Doncic in Dallas on Thursday, the Celtics must be centered on the following job on Tuesday in Oklahoma Metropolis first. In any other case, it’ll be a two-game slide heading into enjoying Doncic and the Mavericks.
So…yeah.
We aren’t going to make this a complete deal the place folks want fired, traded, tarred-and-feathered and drawn-and-quartered in Boston Widespread. There’s sufficient of that going across the web already. However this was actually unhealthy.
The Thunder play actually onerous. Some nights they present the promise of what’s the come. Gilgeous-Alexander is a type of skills that may single-handedly win video games. He’s that good.
However he didn’t play. Oklahoma Metropolis began a gaggle that went 6’7’’, 6’6’’, 6’6’’, 6’4’’ and 6’7’’. They seemed like a mid-major NCAA workforce, each by way of dimension and a few of the expertise on the ground.
And the Thunder scored a franchise-record 150 factors and received by 33. And it wasn’t even actually that shut.
Postgame, Joe Mazzulla and the varied Celtics gamers who spoke all mentioned variations of “Enjoying with out effort and vitality is unacceptable.” Malcolm Brogdon open mentioned that when Boston came upon Gilgeous-Alexander was out, they relaxed. It was clear from the leap that the Celtics to a person thought merely stepping foot on the ground could be sufficient.
The Thunder made eight layups within the first quarter on their strategy to 34 factors. Unhealthy begins occur, however this one by no means obtained higher.
OKC scored 40 factors within the second quarter and 48 factors within the third quarter. The Thunder had a whopping 70 factors within the paint. By the point the fourth quarter began, Oklahoma Metropolis gamers have been actively on the lookout for Celtics to placed on posters. And so they succeeded time and time once more.
There aren’t any silver linings from this one for the Celtics. No “Properly not less than…”. Not from this one.
This wasn’t a foul capturing evening the place you shrug and transfer on. It wasn’t an evening the place the opposite workforce merely couldn’t miss. Properly, they couldn’t, however that’s as a result of the Thunder ran a layup line for lots of the sport. If it wasn’t a layup or dunk, they’d wide-open jumpers.
You’ll be able to even excuse a sport or two annually season the place the workforce simply type of doesn’t present up towards a foul workforce. The canine days of the midpoint of the season are an actual factor.
However this occurred just a few weeks after a string of powerful highway losses, adopted by baffling house losses. Coming off a loss to the Nuggets, the Celtics ought to have proven up and blown out the SGA-less Thunder.
At any time when one thing unhealthy occurs, we all the time say “You understand what? We should always have identified again when…”. You by no means actually know all the pieces goes sideways within the second. It’s type of like placing on weight. You don’t discover the primary few kilos you placed on. Then you definately catch a sideways look within the mirror and, horrified, you exclaim “What occurred? How did we get right here?”
It’s actually, actually essential that Boston doesn’t let this debacle in Oklahoma Metropolis flip into their “We should always have identified again when the Celtics obtained killed by the Thunder with out SGA”.
When the calendar modified from 2021 to 2022, the Boston Celtics modified. They obtained critical about bringing effort on a nightly foundation they usually laid waste to the remainder of the NBA for a few three-month interval.
This season began that manner too. It seemed like Boston was on a mission to bounce again from shedding the NBA Finals by rampaging their strategy to Banner 18. They weren’t simply profitable video games. The Celtics have been destroying groups.
What occurred in the midst of December? The place did that workforce go? Why does this group look a lot like that dispirited, disjointed, disconnected 2021 workforce once more?
It’s one factor to say all the best issues. The 2021 Celtics mentioned all the best issues. Over and again and again. In the future, proper across the flip of the calendar, saying grew to become doing.
It’s time for the 2023 Celtics to cease saying the best issues and to begin doing them once more. We all know they’re lots succesful. We noticed it final season and we noticed it to open this season.
No extra speaking. Actions converse louder than phrases. Don’t inform us that you simply’ll be higher. Be higher. And begin on Thursday evening in Dallas.
