The Celtics are better than this, and everyone knows it.
Their last two games have been disappointing. Their December has been fine, but nowhere near what they're capable of. Their effort on the defensive end has been spotty, at best.
“I just think that we have to really dive into our work a little more and understand that we can’t relax during periods of the game, no matter the circumstance,” Al Horford said after losing to the Sixers. “We have to make sure that we're a little better in that regard and with this group I know that we're capable of getting it together.”
Of course they are. They're the champs, they’ve been through it, and they know what it takes. We all know full well that, at any moment, this team can snap into focus and show its full capabilities.
They're a Bugatti Veyron doing 65 in the high speed lane. We’re the ones stuck behind it, boxed in by traffic, yelling “the gas pedal is the one on the right” and “why would you own a car like that and let your grandma drive it?” while slamming the steering wheel in frustration.
On one hand, it’s doing the speed limit, probably saving on gas, which is kind of what the Celtics are doing. They're not in any trouble. They're still second in the East and third in the NBA. They're 22-8 right now. Last year they were 23-6. Their offense in December is 10th and the defense in sixth, giving them the fifth-best net rating in the league.
Do you know how many fan bases would have asked Santa for a December like Boston has had?
Still, it’s a freakin’ Bugatti, man. It’s a masterpiece of engineering, just like the Celtics. There's nothing like watching it at full power. All you can do is stare and say “oh my God.” When it’s anything less than that, it’s just a shame. Which is what the last two games have been.
“I think we've been inconsistent (defensively),” Joe Mazzulla said. “This game, it was the inconsistency in our effort. … We need to play harder. But if you look at the 30-game sample size, it's about where we're at. But yeah, definitely moments where we have to play harder.”
Playing harder is the simple fix. The gas pedal is the one on the right, fellas, and when you step on that thing you get the last 3:30 of this game. All of a sudden Tyrese Maxey went from looking like the MVP of the league to unable to get the ball over half court. It’s not that Maxey isn’t capable of big nights like this, it’s that the Celtics should be making it more difficult on him.
And if we’re being fair, having Jrue Holiday to play Maxey and Kristaps Porzingis to defend the rim might have changed the course of this game a little. Under different circumstances, Sam Hauser might not have had the misfortune of being the guy guarding Maxey when he scored, turned to Boston’s bench, and yelled at Mazzulla that a substitution was necessary.
“We got some different guys in the lineup and stuff like that,” Jaylen Brown said. “So I feel like we haven't had as much continuity as we would like when we've been out there. … it's a moment where we can improve as a team.”
Sure, that's part of why they’ve been inconsistent, but they had guys in and out of the lineup last regular season, too. The biggest difference year-to-year is that the 2023-24 Celtics were fresh off an embarrassment, so they had something to prove. The 2024-25 Celtics are fresh off a championship, so all the proving has been done.
Maybe that's sapping their intensity. Maybe they're just biding their time. Maybe winning it all has taken some of the edge off, and they're just trying to get through this part of the schedule without having to give everything they have every night.
“It’s definitely different (this year) but ultimately maybe you’re right, maybe there’s some of that,” Al Horford told me when I presented that scenario. “To Joe’s point, he said there’s some inconsistencies. But ultimately for us it’s figuring things out on the defensive end, offensive end, continuing to work, continuing to try to get better. And that’s the goal there. So that’s my mindset at this point. We don’t like losing. We don’t like losing here at home especially. So we just have to be better.”
Honestly, this is just a weird place to be. The Celtics are definitely frustrating right now. Losing to the Magic without their top players and sixth man is rough. Losing to the Sixers at all just sucks in general. And as if all of this wasn’t enough, we had to watch Caleb Martin turn into Steph Curry … again … which makes this all feel like Blitzen kicked us in the jingle bells.
At the same time, there is no worry here. There's no feeling of dread or wondering if they can figure it out. No one is questioning whether the Bugatti can go fast and be awesome. All we want to know is why they're driving this way.
“There's things that we've got to address,” Jayson Tatum said. “We've got to navigate the emotional roller coaster of the NBA season. It feels a lot worse than it actually is. … We've just got to man up and look in the mirror and figure out some things that we've got to do better at. Everybody's fully capable, and we've always done a really good job of responding, and I have no doubt that we will. So I'm not panicking, but we've got to be better, and we will."