Let me take you back to a glorious time in Boston Celtics history. A time where there was hope. A time where the promise of good times fueled sunny speculation.
Let me take you back to ... a week ago.
One week ago, the Celtics were fresh off a dominant win over the Portland Trailblazers the night after losing a game to the Utah Jazz in which the opponents put up a historically prolific shooting night to only win by single-digits. They were on their way to face a Lakers team they had recently blown out and showed no material improvement since.
“Literally three games ago we were playing a totally different style with the effort and the heart and intensity,” Ime Udoka said after losing to the Suns, their third-straight loss. “So it's been inconsistent for sure, but it was just here and it's been here for most of the year the way we played.”
Had they beaten the Lakers, they would have been the fourth seed. Obviously seeding doesn’t matter right now but people feel good when they hear that or see it in the standings. Now they're 10th and a game below .500, which people really do not like to hear about or see.
Three games is not a lot, but a lot has changed over the course of three games. Had they won the so-called “winnable” games, They would have had two more wins, a 15-12 record, and be a half-game out of the fourth seed.
They did not. And now there is a very strong feeling that something has to change, mostly because the mistakes we see are the same mistakes we’ve seen.
“Twenty-five games is a good sample size to start to look at some things, good and bad habit-wise,” Udoka said, hinting that change might be afoot. “You do have to look at certain things. Guys have been in and out all year and we’ve played a certain way, and we haven’t the last three games specifically. Jaylen (Brown) being out, you don’t throw somebody in and it’s all peaches and cream. You still have to play the game, and play with the proper respect and effort, and we didn’t do that the last three games. So we’ll look at a lot of things coming off this trip.”
Pull back to a more realistic place and a loss like the one against the Suns might not be too surprising considering they were missing Brown and Josh Richardson. Richardson would have been especially helpful because his scoring off the bench might have just stopped one of those runs Phoenix went on in the second quarter. The butterfly effect of a J-Rich make or two could have at least minimized the damage.
Maybe the inclusion of Brown and, whenever he’s out of Health and Safety protocols, Richardson will be enough to change things.
“I think it goes both ways – 25 games is enough of a sample size. And then, I’m certain that there’s only a handful of games that our whole team has been together,” Jayson Tatum said. “But even without that, there’s some games we wish we could’ve had back, for sure.”
But then again, maybe not.
“We'll look at everything based on these 25 games and see where changes need to be made,” Udoka said. “Whether it's lineup, rotation, minutes, everything.”
Here’s where I land on this:
When they're whole, they're fine. Marcus Smart as the starting point guard is good. Smart off the ball this season is horrible. So with Brown back and Smart as the starting point guard, the Celtics can get back to playing better.
This also means that Dennis Schröder and Smart should share the floor less. It’s really for the best. Schröder adds an attacking element but he takes so much away from Smart’s effectiveness that pairing them for long stretches is a bad idea. Smart can attack, and he and Robert Williams have a kinship when it comes to running pick-and-roll.
There's room for discussion about the Williams/Al Horford pairing. I think Horford should start on the bench and come in with Schröder so they're always paired. Grant Williams and his renewed 3-point shooting ability can provide what the Celtics need in the starting lineup with Robert Williams getting back to his more high-post facilitating mode. However, there's plenty of evidence that the two-big lineup is alright at full strength.
There also has to be room for Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, and Payton Pritchard. Obviously the Celtics can’t play everyone on their roster, but Langford especially has shown he can operate in the corners very effectively. He has earned minutes, and both Nesmith and Pritchard have shown they have the ability to contribute with some added opportunity.
Udoka has decisions to make, but they might be decisions that bear fruit wherever the Celtics are shorthanded. If Brown is back soon, they could just roll with their regular group and see how that works. However, he could take this chance to send a message.
Accountability was a major theme of the Udoka hiring. This could be Udoka’s chance to dole some out with reduced minutes or roles for guys who need a jolt. The door is open for some changes. We’ll see how many are actually made.