Karalis: Throw X's & O's out the window. This team's engine is broken

This isn't how this is supposed to go.

The Celtics were supposed to be better than this, but that they're disappointing is not the issue at this moment. This moment is about more than that.

This team hasn't had that much turnover. Sure, their starters haven't had much time on the floor together this year, but what we saw against the Sacramento Kings wasn't about a lack of cohesion between them. That group of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, and Daniel Theis played together all of last season. Hell, the four Americans go all the way back to the World Cup of Basketball camp in August of 2019.

Guys who've played together for a year-and-a-half coming out with some rust? Sure, that's understandable. Guys who've played together for a year-and-a-half coming out looking like they have never met before? That's a big problem.

Something is clearly off.

"We do have stretches where we do play really well. It’s just not consistent right now," Walker said. "At the end of the day, we got to come together, man. If we want to win and we want to be successful, it’s only one possible way that can happen and that's for us to do it together. Some people gotta sacrifice certain things. We got to put our pride to the side and figure it out."

We're slowly piecing the picture of this year's team together. Trying to figure them out has been as painstaking as watching their games. But, bit by bit, we're getting a sense of where the roots of this problem lie.



"I think we need to be more engaged in each other, and I think that teams are fragile things," Brad Stevens said. "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."

It's become clear that something is wrong with this team's engine. Whatever it is that drives this team, internally, is broken.

"We have to play as a team," Stevens continued. "We have to be able to move past a mistake or a missed shot or a missed opportunity or them banking a shot in from three and move on. And show a great mindset, show a little resolve and put that together throughout the game, and we have not done that. That is clear."

My job is watching basketball and breaking down what went right and wrong. After a game like this, I'm supposed to tell you about the plays that made a difference, and how certain players need to do more or less, and that the coach made a right or wrong decision.

This isn't about all that anymore. That's what doctors would call treating the symptoms. And all of the symptoms we're seeing from the Celtics is pointing to something deeper; something more problematic.

"In hindsight, we’ll probably be able to make that — have that conversation," Brown said. "But in the middle of it, there’s no time for excuses. ... Maybe in hindsight we’ll be able to give you a better answer, but right now we just need to figure it out. Right now we just need to be better. Right now we don’t need to give up."

This is where finding the true cause of this gets weird, because this isn't a team at each other's throats. This group of guys does, actually, get along. After games, the only fighting with each other we hear is between guys trying to take responsibility for the issues.

"The reason guys are all pointing on themselves is because we have such great dudes," Walker said. "We're very high character. I don’t know if you'll find many teammates who really put the blame on themselves, especially on one team. So I really do appreciate my teammates and respect my teammates further for that."

Still, the energy for the game isn't there for this team. The enthusiasm is missing.

"It’s a lot of small things," Walker said. "For instance, a guy falls down and you want to see everybody go over there and pick him up. If someone does something great, you expect to see guys up and cheering. Just small things like that, just for an example. I think that’s a few examples of being invested in each other."

We know guys are tired. Tatum, who has admitted to still feeling the effects of COVID-19, looked like a shell of himself in this game. And maybe all of this is simply a case of a team running on fumes. Or maybe, as Smart hinted earlier in the day, there's an outside element dragging someone down and it's showing up on the court. Or, maybe, some guys just aren't built for this sort of thing.

At this point, Stevens and Danny Ainge are like IT guys looking for the one broken line of code that has crashed their entire system. It could be something simple, or it could be something catastrophic. Every theory carries its share of validity. Everyone involved carries their share of the blame.

Amazingly, Boston still remains 1.5 games out of the fourth seed and home court in the first round of the playoffs. Somehow, against all odds, a turnaround remains possible. All they need is for that damn engine to turn over.

"Our challenge moving forward is the only way that happens is if we do it as a team," Stevens said. "(We've) got to get engaged in each other and you’ve got to fight through these tough times, and if you’re not going to do that, then there’s going to be a lot more tough times."