It’s time to play America’s favorite game show …
DOES … IT … MATTER?!?
It’s the game where we take things that look and feel horrible but then pull back and wonder …
DOES … IT … MATTER?!?
Today’s horrible-feeling thing is a 117-96 loss to the Lakers, which felt kind of crappy almost right away, but then felt like it might not be so bad when the Celtics were coming back, only to feel even worse when they fumbled that opportunity.
This is where the game gets fun, because the answer to whether this matters is both yes and no right now, and we won’t really know who is right until a few months from now.
Actually, that game isn’t very fun at all. I probably shouldn’t have committed all that money to Ryan Seacrest to host. Anyway...
Why does this loss matter? Because the Celtics just can’t find any consistency right now, and the question of whether these losses are more than just things that happen sometimes is getting louder. Between what looks like a lack of connectivity on defense and too many issues with spacing on offense, there are concerns about whether bad habits are starting to seep in.
Why doesn’t it matter? Because this is not only their third game in four nights, but their fifth in seven. This is the same situation that led to last year’s embarrassment in Milwaukee and the loss to Memphis at home in early December. Boston played a back-to-back at home, traveled across the country, and then played another three games in four nights. Maybe the missed shots and defensive missteps is just a matter of a tired team making tired mistakes.
And that might sound like a tired excuse to some people, probably because the Celtics rarely gave in to those on their way to a championship. Maybe if the Celtics had a few more stinkers on the resume last year, people wouldn’t compare and contrast the two seasons and think this one is swirling down the tubes.
This matters because the Celtics have proven what it takes for them to win a title, and what we’re seeing ain’t it. Their worst month of last season was also January, but they went 11-5. The Celtics would need to go on a four-game winning streak to match that, which isn't something we can expect from a team that's 3-8 after its last 11 wins. And let’s not forget that they went 8-6 in December, so they're 15-11 over a significant stretch of the season.
But it doesn’t matter because last year was different, with Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday fresh in the fold, healthy from the beginning, and joining a laser-focused team looking to atone for an embarrassing playoff exit the year before. Things are different now and not in a bad way. Just in a different way.
And before I go full Vizzini with my dizzying intellect, let me turn things over to the Celtics, who do not seem fazed by what happened on Thursday night.
“We just didn't have a good night tonight.” Kristaps Porzingis told reporters . “We had a back-to-back. That has to go into the equation. So that's honestly what it is. But to be honest, I feel like we are starting to play better, and it will be fine.”
Jaylen Brown concurred, saying “You can give them credit, but I just think we came out flat. We just kind of looked tired. Maybe you could say just the game from last night going into overtime carried over. But on both sides of the court, they just had more energy than us, and we tried to ramp it up in the third quarter. It just wasn't there tonight.”
Even those quotes are up for some debate here. Are they being sincere, or are they making excuses or being too dismissive? Do these quotes tell us that this loss doesn’t matter because what they said is accurate, or do they tell us this loss does matter because they're delusional?
I’m still not panicking, but I can’t say that there isn’t at least some level of concern here. I’m very willing to chalk up a lot of what’s been happening to a weird mix of unavoidable outlier stuff along with sloppy, human-nature stuff.
The Lakers are a 35.4% 3-point shooting team that hit 42.9% in this game. Gabe Vincent hit four 3-pointers combined over his last four games and then he went 4-7 in this one. At the same time, the Celtics got three combined 3-pointers in this game from Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Jrue Holiday. We can all agree that's just weird, right?
But the weirdness keeps happening, which is part of the concern. Kessler Edwards is currently 1-7 this season on 3-pointers, but how tempting is it to bet the over on his 3-point makes on Saturday because he’s the perfect guy to suddenly go 3-7 from deep in a single game?
Why does stuff like that keep happening? Is it just bad luck?
I don’t know the answer right now. My analytical brain tells me a lot of things are happening that won’t continue. Even if they are struggling more than we expected through this stretch, I still see a lot of randomness that will level off.
I understand if you don’t feel the same way. I can’t blame you if you feel otherwise.
For what it’s worth, Porzingis is with me on this.
“I just feel it. I just feel how we are,” he said. “I'm getting into my rhythm, and we're finding a rhythm as a team. Yeah, I mean, there's nights like this, of course. It happens. It happened last year. It’s happening this year a little bit more, but I don't think we're too far off of where we need to be. We just need to keep our head down, keep working and I believe we'll peak at the right moment.”
Let’s hope he’s right, because that's all that matters.