They’re not ready yet.
The Celtics came into this game feeling themselves a little bit. They were 8-3 in the last 11 games, boasting the league’s top defense over that stretch. The competition wasn’t great, but they did what they had to do.
Then the Nets showed up.
“It helps I guess that there’s competition between us two teams, we’re all going to be around here late in the season,” Kevin Durant said, also taking the opportunity to jab his former Nets coach. “It was good to beat Ime (Udoka). I get excited about coming here and winning in Boston. It's a tough place to play. But now that Ime is a coach, it makes it even sweeter.”
Brooklyn came in hot and stayed that way. Patty Mills was “FIBA Patty,” one of the most unstoppable forces in basketball. Kevin Durant did whatever he wanted. James Harden was drawing 2020-21 NBA season fouls.
The Celtics shot jumpers. Lots and lots of jumpers.
“The first timeout I talked about how we were getting nothing at the basket. All jump shots early,” Udoka said. “And even though we got some open looks, a lot of them are more one-on-one, contested, semi contested shots.”
The ball movement and attacking the Celtics had worked on and improved over the past few weeks disappeared for too long. Not until they mounted one last run did they truly attack the basket.
“I do believe that you don't only attack the paint by penetration, it's also passing,” Al Horford said. “You get it in the middle, once you get the defense in, you can kick it out. Those are the kind of shots we want to take. There are different ways to go about and for some reason, we got caught up a lot in having their defense standing still. There was not much movement and it's gonna be tough. We were doing a better job of that but for whatever reason tonight, I don't think we moved it enough like we needed to.”
The Celtics have used the phrase “for whatever reason” a bunch this season. It is partly a standard NBA filler phrase to connect thoughts, but for the Celtics it seems there is some genuine confusion about how they suddenly abandon things they have been doing.
For example, the Celtics let their lack of hitting shots bother them.
“I feel it hasn’t been like that for awhile, but I do believe tonight that played a role, for whatever reason,” Horford said. “We got discouraged - the start of the third wasn’t great, had some turnovers that kind of hurt us and we could never get on a roll like we’ve been.”
And the Celtics seemed to be lacking a little fire.
“Obviously this wasn’t our best game, we didn’t come out and play with that tenacity that we’ve seen in recent games for whatever reason,” Jaylen Brown said. “But we have to find it back on this road trip. I think that defense is what we want to set the tone on.”
Who knows how this game would have gone with Robert Williams and Josh Richardson. On the one hand, it’s hard to imagine those two guys making a 30 point difference in this game, but on the other, they could have provided something.
But the Celtics not being whole doesn’t change that mentally, this team wasn’t ready for the challenge. They’re just not there yet.
This is one of those nights measuring stick games. It’s like when you make your new year’s resolution to drop a few pounds and you step on the scale every couple of weeks to see how you’re doing. This game is that Friday night when you ate half a pizza, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, and washed it down a two-liter of Coke because “I deserve this.”
Scale don’t lie.
“They came out the more aggressive team, we probably gave them too much respect,” Horford said. “They are what they are - a good team. But at the end of the day this is a learning experience for our group and I hope it helps us the next time.”
Udoka said that he “felt that was the first time in a while that we got out-hustled and outworked.”
But just like that late January weigh-in, this isn’t a finished product either. It’s okay to not be at that level yet. The Celtics aren’t ready for this challenge just like I’m not ready to bench press my weight (let’s just say that would be an impressive bench press).
And just like that discouraging moment on the scale, the key is how you respond to it. Are you still going to the gym, or are you buying Pringles in bulk at BJ’s? Does this moment make you quit, or work harder?
“They outplayed us tonight. We’re looking forward to the next matchup,” Jaylen Brown said. “We obviously are a good team and we look forward to playing against anybody. We don’t put any team before ourselves ... but they beat us tonight, but we’re looking forward to the next matchups in the future, but we believe in ourselves every time we step on the court. So, that’s all I’ve got to say to that.”