I’ll inform you what, for a 32-15 workforce, the Boston Celtics have an terrible lot of disappointing losses. Perhaps that has a bit to do with the expectations surrounding the reigning champs, however a few of these could be irritating for any workforce.
Monday’s recreation regarded like it might be the Celtics’ fourth win in 5 video games. They led the visiting Houston Rockets by 12 with 8:38 remaining within the fourth quarter. From that time on, they have been outscored 25-11 en route to a different letdown.
A defensive breakdown to seal defeat was the cherry on prime of Boston’s sundae of ice-cold late-game execution. Rockets guard Amen Thompson completed off a drive to the cup, after a comedy of errors from the Cs.
First off, Jaylen Brown and Luke Kornet have been in absolute shambles earlier than the ball was even inbounded. Head coach Joe Mazzulla took accountability for the confusion throughout his postgame availability when requested about how he can reply going ahead.
“Simply take possession of the fellows,” stated Mazzulla. “They’re those on the market battling and so they put you ready to win and also you don’t assist that, it’s a troublesome one. That’s one thing I gotta get higher at.”
Mazzulla is correct, the gamers are those on the market battling — more often than not. There wasn’t a lot battle as soon as issues went astray on the ultimate defensive possession.
As Brown tried to relocate to protect Thompson, he fell a step behind and was out of place guarding the drive.
“So, I suppose we — I ought to have sniffed it out earlier,” JB stated of the lapse. “However, you realize, we tried to speak the swap to get transfer off of Thompson, as a result of he had it going, and so they have been going to go to him, and the timing was miscue, and so they scored on the finish.”
As soon as he was overwhelmed, actually nobody cared to try to assist and the second-year Rocket sank an open floater.
Kornet was nowhere to be discovered on the robust facet and Jayson Tatum simply stood proper subsequent to Thompson as an alternative of attempting to contest the shot.
It’s straightforward to brush off a sloppy stand like this if it’s a one-off.
It was not.
On the earlier possession, the Cs gave up a wide-open dunk resulting from one other defensive lapse.
After all, they didn’t lose a 12-point lead over the course of these two possessions. They spent eight minutes struggling to place the ball within the basket and get stops on the alternative finish of the ground.
Boston shot 33% from the sphere throughout that span, whereas Houston sank 60% of their seems.
The execution simply wasn’t adequate on Monday, very like lots of the Cs’ current outings.
Boston has been putrid within the fourth quarter for fairly a while now. Over their final 15 video games, they’ve received a web ranking of -5.7, which has them within the backside third of the NBA. They’ve watched wins grow to be losses to middling groups just like the Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks.
This was the ninth time that Boston has misplaced a fourth-quarter lead this season — the identical whole because the entirety of final 12 months.
When the playoffs come round, the Celtics aren’t going to afford to let go of the rope in tight video games. In the event that they have been taking part in the sort of basketball final spring, they in all probability would’ve been knocked out by the Indiana Pacers within the Japanese Convention Finals. Their execution and poise have been night time and day in comparison with what they’ve been doing since December.
