We wondered what Boston would do when they faced some adversity.
Well, this is it.
The Celtics stormed out of the gate, got two tough wins to start the season, two blowouts after that, and a scrappy win against Brooklyn. Everyone was flying high and the view of the team from the outside was that they had too much top-end talent to be affected by the newness of their team.
Enter the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers, two teams with explosive guards and big men who protect the paint.
Suddenly, Jayson Tatum’s paths to the rim are blocked by large people. All the post ups the team has been working on have evaporated. Joel Embiid and Rudy Gobert did what they are supposed to do defensively, which is to impact how often and how effectively teams get to the rim.
Take a look at the shot charts from the first five wins.
Only Miami was able to keep Boston’s rack attack in check. And what does Miami have? A perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Bam Adebayo. They were able to get to rim often and effectively in their other wins, but against Minnesota and Philadelphia, it’s been a lot more difficult.
The key, of course, when facing a big behemoth in the middle is to move the ball and try to find ways to get him away from the rim he’s trying to protect.
“Last game against Minnesota, we didn't do a good job, I feel like, throughout the game, having enough movement, moving the ball,” Tatum told reporters after the game. “Tonight, honestly, I feel like we did, we moved the ball well … Or it was an improvement from the Minnesota game. We just didn't shoot as well tonight.”
That's just going to happen some nights. The Celtics won’t win a lot of games where Tatum and Jaylen Brown combine for 27 points on 10-27 shooting. That's a rough night for one of those guys, nevermind their combined effort. Factor in a rough night from new daddy Derrick White, who probably got as many hours of sleep over the past few days as field goals made in this game (6), and it’s a recipe for disaster no matter who the opponent.
But that's what benches are for, and right now a bench that was a known potential issue for Boston this season is struggling to produce. Sam Hauser has snapped out of his funk, but the Celtics were very much hoping for something … anything … out of Payton Pritchard. But he’s made only one basket in four road games to start the season.
We knew they’d have problems putting it together just like we knew they’d have problems keeping teams off the boards. The Celtics have been able to out-talent their way to wins in earlier games and make us forget about those problems, but the Sixers and Timberwolves are actually good teams with solid role players and incredible stars. Boston is more talented, but not so much so that their flaws can’t weigh them down and cost them in these matchups.
The Celtics took some big steps forward to start the season, but now they’ve taken a step or two backwards, and look very much like a team still trying to figure themselves out after a meaningless preseason that actually got them little more than some cardiovascular work.
“It's going to take time,” Kristaps Porzingis said after the game. “But honestly we do have a lot of good moments where we find each other, where we hit each other with some good passes and we started to read each other more and more. But it's early.”
Yes, it is early. The failures of the past two games are still being divided into piles that need addressing and piles that can be dismissed as just bad luck or shooting leveling off. We can easily argue that normal games from Tatum, Brown, and White make this a win. We definitely argue that more boxing out would have helped.
All too often, the general feeling after games like this is negative, but there are actually good things to come out of this game. The Celtics had eight assists in the fourth quarter and 28 for the game, which is a wild number for a team that shot 39.6%.
Imagine that number if they’d shot well.
The effort was mostly there, except for a stretch in the second quarter and that ultimately cost them the game. So maybe all this game needed was a few little tweaks, some better shooting luck, and a little better focus.
Or maybe it really needs more. This is all part of the process of becoming a cohesive team. They’ve been telling us there will be some adversity, and we knew they’d be right because there always is.
Now is the time to figure out who they really are. Now is the time to take the lessons of these losses to heart and grow as a team. Now is the time to act like scientists and be excited by the failures because they tell you what not to do.
When the Celtics figure out this little puzzle, they’ll be better for it.
“I love winning but also like these adversities,” Porzingis said. “We lose some games. Okay, how are we going to bounce back? Lost a couple in a row now. Let's see how we come back from this one.”