Through 24 games, the Celtics now have 5 losses on the season.
Those 5 losses are by a combined 20 points.
They are yet to lose by more than 6 in any game this season.
Part of me also finds it pretty annoying, because it means they dropped a winnable game.
I’ll tell you this much.
To be honest, that’s how I feel about every one of these close losses this season.
It’s more “oh well!”
than “oh no!”
if that makes any sense.
We know what this team is.
We know what this team can do.
We know their ceiling, and we know their floor.
No team goes 82-0, and I have bad news for you.
The Celts will lose again at some point this season!
To me, this game was lost due to a lack of execution.
It was because the Celts were playing like shit and then eventually paid the price for it.
It’s OK, it’s a long season!
Sometimes you’re going to have to grind out wins when you’re tired.
Welcome to NBA scheduling.
They simply just need to execute better.
The Bucks game is a great example.
But that doesn’t mean we ignore when they lay an egg.
In fact, it’s the exact opposite, so let’s dive in.
Let’s not overthink this.
Payton Pritchard simply does not have 2 bad games in a row.
Go ahead and look at that graphic above and look at what happened immediately following one of those disasterclasses.
This is what Payton Pritchard does.
We can move on.
The opponent makes 20 3PM on 51% shooting
2.
The Celts shoot 32% from three
3.
For them to split those games is also a bit of a prayer.
There are two way to look at this in my opinion.
The first being it’s encouraging that a team can win even when they don’t have it.
That’s the sign of a legit contender.
Who cares if it’s ugly, just find a way to win.
That’s the good part.
The not so good part is the fact that they aren’t really playing good basketball, especially defensively.
Over their last 3 games, the Celts defense ranks 23rd in the NBA.
This team has too many plus defenders to have defensive production like that.
In this loss, it was twofold.
As Joe talked about after the game, the transition points were a huge problem.
The Grizzlies won that battle 22-4, and had 19 points off the 14 Celtics turnovers.
It’s basically how they’ve lost every single playoff game since the Bubble.
If their points off turnovers is around 19-22, this is the jot down of result you get.
As we always say, if you don’t defend, you die.
It was just like Kyle Anderson hitting those three straight 3PM back in the Warriors loss.
Meanwhile, Tatum/KP/White finished a combined 6-27.
Against the Bucks, the number was a brutal 4-24 on “wide open” 3PA.
Just an insane number.
So combined, a horrific 15-51 (29%) on clean looks.
It’s not a surprise to have dead legs shooting the ball given their schedule.
What isn’t acceptable is also not playing defense while this goes on.
The Tatum stinker is few and far between, but when he’s off he is really OFF.
To be honest, it really reminded me of the stinker he had against the Wizards back before Thanksgiving.
In that win, Tatum finished 6-19 (0-10) and 16/9/8.
That’s almost always going to end in a loss.
The Celts closed this game going just 4 of their last 10 from the stripe.
That has me at a loss for words.
Make your FTs and you probably win this game.
Fuck around, and find out the hard way.
I know this is a weird obsession of mine, but a game like this is why.
Pritchard missed 2 (!?!?!?!?!?
), KP missed 2 (?!?!?!
), Tatum and Brown missing 4th quarter FTs, in no world is any of that acceptable.
- We may be living in a bit of a Derrick White slump.
The weird part is they’re clean looks too.
I would imagine this doesn’t last much longer and water will find its level.
A brutal 8-26 (4-17), this was a situation where Jruehasto take those open looks.
Mazzulla Ball demands it.
It was a layup for him.
He went all of last regular season missing 37 total corner 3s.
This season, he’s 15-49 (30.6%).
Much like everyone else, Jrue struggled to make his “wide open” 3PA.
Hey, nights like this happen.
