The Celtics won on Sunday.
We have to keep reminding ourselves of that because it doesn’t feel like they did. It feels like they did a lot of things that typically lead to losses, so the part where New Orleans didn’t hit the last shot even after a tough Celtics turnover and two missed free throws is a crucial part of this equation.
“It was very stressful. Kind of wacky there,” Al Horford said. “I'm just glad it didn't cost us and we were able to get it done because we had a lot of chances and missed layups. Little things like that that we usually get. So, yeah."
It’s a little tough for the Celtics right now. They're like a shopping cart with that one wheel that wobbles and sticks. It’s mostly getting the job done, but it’s annoying as hell.
And like most annoying stretches for a team, each annoyance is a little bit different. They’ve blown it defensively, forced 3-pointers, forced drives, missed free throws, and missed layups. They have had some bad starts and some bad finishes.
“When you're 7-6 over 13, it’s not just one thing,” Joe Mazzulla said. “There's two great teams in the league that are having historic seasons, so they become the reference point of ‘Oh, you're not as good because you're not them.’ … We're on our own path that we have to be able to work through.
“And just because we were this last year, you can't take for granted the details, habit, execution, togetherness, trust, like all that stuff has to be rebuilt. And I think sometimes when you have the same team, we have this expectation that we're just going to pick up there. And it's different.”
It is different, but I do think one side effect of the championship is the erasure of last year’s negatives. By the time these guys got off the duck boats, all we remembered was a season of dominance. We forget how often the comments section was full of reasons why this team would fail. Every loss was a referendum on their ability to win a title.
That went away, for good reason, after a dominant start to the season. But as that has given way to some struggles, the negativity has reemerged. The questions about their ability to do it again have grown louder as people demand explanations as to why this year’s Celtics path isn’t just an extension of last year’s.
“We're expected to win every game,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “When we don't, when we have a little patch of where we're not playing the best basketball, it's like, we start looking for what is it and stuff. But I think it's just a mix of many things happening. Me coming back from injury and playing my way into rhythm, guys have to adjust a little bit, maybe a little bit, like, lower energy stretch right now.”
Maybe the lower energy can explain why typically reliable players aren’t performing at their best. Derrick White’s late mistakes were shocking in how bad they were. Live-ball turnovers from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were supposed to be a remnant of the past, but they're suddenly back and costing Boston in big moments. This is supposed to be a cohesive, connected team, but they’ve been fumbling around the court lately like a pick-up squad that just met at the Y.
“Just a funky stretch, I guess,” Tatum said. “It's impossible to think that every game is gonna go exactly how you want it. This is not the way it goes, but what I am happy about is how we responded tonight through the missed free throws, through the turnovers, fouling guys, just plays that we normally don't make. I think we did a really good job tonight of not letting it snowball effect and just figuring out a way to win the game.”
Oh, right. They won the game. I keep forgetting that part.
They did win. It’s their 28th win of the season. A year ago on this date, they had 29 wins, so even with all of the stuff that's driving everyone crazy, they're still almost in the same spot.
“I think that's the most important,” Tatum said. “Just being 28 and 11 and feel like it's so much more room for improvement. We can play so much better. Like, maybe you don't want to be playing your best basketball at the beginning of January. We've been through this before. We still got a lot of time to get back to our identity, it's not supposed to be easy … Every single night we get everybody's best shot, and that's just how it's gonna be.”
That means Dejounte Murray is going to shake off a 29% shooting season to hit his first five from downtown, stare down the bench, say some things that can’t be repeated, and pound his chest. It means Oklahoma City will play the best defense of their season, or Domantas Sabonis will set a rebounding record.
But it should also mean the team with a championship pedigree takes the punch and gives it back. The problem is no one wants to hit their hardest right now.
Dana Carvey says he never wanted to be perfect during Saturday Night Live table reads or dress rehearsals because he wanted his best stuff to happen during the live show. Gene Wilder didn’t rehearse his pivotal Willy Wonka “you LOSE” scene at full volume because he wanted the real take to have real reactions. The Celtics are at a point where they're not giving their best stuff now because they know they’ll need their best stuff later.
But it doesn’t mean they can’t start building towards it soon.
“We're trying to build back off that personality as a team,” Porzingis said. “We'll keep building. We'll keep being honest with ourselves, and with this kind of talent in this locker room, it's impossible that we don't start playing better basketball.”
If that means some more one-point wins, so be it. I’d prefer things to go a little more smoothly, but the wins are the ultimate goal. They're better than 17-point losses in a game that felt pretty similar to this one. At least in this game, the Celtics didn't let things get out of hand. It’s not much, but it’s something.
“(It’s a) different year, people are in different spaces,” Mazzulla said. “We have to re-establish that. You have to work at that, and that just takes time. So this is the space that we're in. I love the fact that we're not happy. Best place to be in. And we'll figure it the hell out.”