BOSTON – Simply two nights after their 28-point collapse towards the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics dropped an excruciating sport to the New York Knicks in double-overtime. To make issues worse, on the primary night time of a back-to-back with a street sport towards the Cleveland Cavaliers staring them within the face on Monday night time, 4 Celtics logged 40+ minutes within the loss.
“In a sport like this, two nice groups taking part in towards one another, they made a pair extra performs than we did,” head coach Joe Mazzulla stated. “These performs get magnified and we simply have to maneuver on. I believed we acquired higher, I believed we did a whole lot of issues on each ends of the ground. I believed they made just a few extra performs than we did.”
Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon have been out for Boston, however Jalen Brunson was lacking for New York. It was a troublesome battle between two East playoff groups, however the Knicks discovered an edge.
Immanuel Quickley stepped up in an enormous approach, pouring a career-high 38 factors to go together with eight rebounds, seven assists, 4 steals, and two blocks. He shot 15-of-28 from the sector and 5-of-12 from past the three-point arc.
For the second sport in a row, Boston blew a double-digit lead simply to go down by double digits later within the contest. They broke down in a number of sides of the sport, with Mazzulla pointing to “empty possessions on the offensive finish, after which transition and fouling.”
This disintegration in play has rapidly grow to be synonymous with the Celtics, as they’ve stumbled out of the All-Star break. Even of their wins, issues haven’t been fairly.
However Mazzulla isn’t fearful.
“Zero concern. Simply because there’s 17 video games left doesn’t imply that there’s any distinction in how I anticipated the season would go,” he stated. “And also you clearly need to be taking part in your finest basketball later within the season as you get nearer to the playoffs, however this can be a robust stretch. We now have to be taught from it in order that we will use it later within the 12 months.”
Boston is now 3-3 because the break, however their three wins have all include asterisks, and their three losses have been all brutal.
The Celtics barely scraped by the Indiana Pacers. They practically fell to the Philadelphia 76ers earlier than Jayson Tatum nailed a game-winner. And in what ought to have been a convincing victory, the Cleveland Cavaliers made a surge on the finish of regulation to solid some doubt about Boston’s means to shut.
As for the three losses, one was a near-wire-to-wire loss to the Knicks, and within the different two, the Celtics held double-digit leads earlier than crumbling.
“We’re not locking in as a lot as we have to,” stated Celtics huge man Al Horford. “That is the second time that we sort of have had a lead, we be ok with it, a workforce makes a run, and we simply sort of let him again within the sport. And all through the season, you’re gonna have adversity. We’ve performed fairly good basketball many of the 12 months, and this can be a time the place you tighten up, you repair a few of these issues, a few of these points, or it goes the opposite approach. And the character of our group, the sort of guys that we’ve got, I really feel fairly assured that we’ll determine it out. Clearly, you don’t need to drag this out. And like I’ve stated earlier, we need to play our greatest basketball. However this is part of the season. There are ups, there are downs, and inside video games, we’re taking part in effectively, then we sort of go on a rut, looks as if we will’t get out of it. And we’ve got to remain the course, and I really feel like we’ll be positive. However undoubtedly, it’s not nice to undergo this proper now.”
After a sizzling offensive begin to the season, the Celtics have struggled with consistency on that facet of the ground. They undergo tough patches the place they’ll’t appear to purchase a bucket, and on the similar time, the opposing workforce runs free in transition, inflicting the form of lopsided runs which have decided their final two contests.
With the playoffs simply over a month away, the Celtics needs to be gearing up for an enormous run, however as a substitute, they’re coping with quintessential on-court points. It’s not a great scenario, but it surely’s additionally not one thing they’re getting too involved about.
“I imply, we haven’t performed effectively,” stated Tatum. “We performed higher at the moment than we did final sport. However general, we’ve nonetheless had an excellent 12 months. I believe we simply hit slightly tough patch proper now, which is okay. We’d have preferred to win each sport popping out the break, however most likely wasn’t going to occur. However we’re nonetheless in an excellent place, and we nonetheless acquired time to determine it out. And we’re going to. Some minor issues, however we all know we’re able to.”
