BSJ Game Report: Kings 107, Celtics 96 - Another new low for spiraling Celtics

Everything you need to know about the Celtics’ 107-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

Same story. The Celtics started out brutally slow, tried to turn it on, and then couldn’t close. Flat doesn't even begin to describe this team tonight. Jayson Tatum looked especially listless. Even if you are among the fans who thinks this team just isn’t good, this loss still has to look different.

“Guys are trying,” Brad Stevens said after the game. “But sometimes even when you’re giving good effort, or you have a group of possessions that go pretty well, five guys engaged does a lot, and we just haven’t had that recently. And that’s concerning.”

This is as bad as it gets. Losing back-to-back games to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Sacramento Kings in very similar fashion is a new low for these Celtics. There are so many different factors at play, but the bottom line is this team has lacked the ability to get past whatever those factors are. 

“I think it’s clear as day. And as a collective, everybody is equally responsible,” Jaylen Brown said. “Our energy has been flat. You can see it from the TV screen, from the stands. We haven’t come out with that pop that we’re used to, or been aggressive and attacked teams like we have in the past. And it’s tough.”

TURNING POINT

With less than two minutes to go, Tatum missed a tough layup that would have made it 97-95 Kings. Sacramento got the rebound and made a 3-pointer. It was part of an 8-0 run to push the lead back up to 10.

SECOND GUESS

The Celtics were finally able to play their expected normal starting five, which is really important. However, maybe that could have been postponed to give Brown and/or Tatum a break. Sunday is the first of five games in seven nights. Both got less of a break than everyone and both play more minutes than everyone. It might have been good to get one of them an extra day off. 

TOP PLAY

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1373077122873368578

ONE UP 

Payton Pritchard: He gave the team 20 good minutes, and his back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter finally brought Boston all the way back. 

TWO DOWN

Jayson Tatum: He looked like he was playing on no sleep. Whether he is gassed, it’s the lingering impact of COVID-19, or something else, this is the most disengaged I’ve ever seen Tatum. It almost seemed like he was saving his energy for short bursts, but there weren’t many of those either. 

Marcus Smart: Guys just don’t go backdoor on Smart often, yet he got burned in this one. Smart was shockingly subpar defensively, which, combined with Tatum being subpar offensively, makes for a rough night. 

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

We are entering insanity, and it’s probably time to try something new. But what?

“Even looking at tonight, you could say that was shaking things up because we haven’t played even that starting five together in a month and a half,” Stevens said. “So I don’t know that we’ve even had time to consider all the different things to shake up.”

But it goes deeper than this, and each time we dig deeper for an answer, another question pops up. 

What can Stevens do to fix this? This has nothing to do with starting Robert Williams over Daniel Theis. This isn’t about running more post-ups on defense or blitzing a ball handler on a pick-and-roll. This game had absolutely nothing to do with anything strategic. 

The Sacramento Kings are not a good basketball team, but every NBA team can look good if they get open looks. They out-hustled the Celtics and took advantage of a team that played like they were in a dark room wearing weighted vests. 

“You could certainly go through and point out plays where we weren't as effortful but you could also probably point out plays where, you know we made incredible effort,” Stevens said. “I'm more looking at the engagement level in each other and that's what wasn't there in that game early on.”

The Celtics need to do something different, and it goes beyond a new starting five or Aaron Nesmith off the bench instead of Jeff Teague. 

Someone needs to step out of character. 

Whether it’s a person who is always quiet stepping up and yelling. Whether it’s a wallflower in practice challenging a vet. Whether it’s Stevens getting tossed. This team needs something.

When a patient is flatlining, doctors don’t try to talk him out of dying. They get the paddles and shock him back to life. 

This is as low as things have gotten, but there is, amazingly, still time for a turnaround. 

Though that’s running out.