BOSTON — Before the season began, Celtics assistant Sam Cassell declared that this team would be the hardest playing group in basketball this season.
Flashes of that energy were apparent throughout the team’s 8-7 start to the year. However, that tenacity was nowhere to be found Friday night in a 113-105 loss to the Nets. A tanking Brooklyn team outworked Boston on both ends, tallying their third win of the year in a performance that disgusted Jaylen Brown.
“Come ready to play, or don’t play at all,” Brown said after the loss. “That’s my whole thing. We’ve gotta come ready to play. We just went through the motions today like, I don’t understand it.”
Boston stands at a respectable 8-8 in the East standings despite the defeat with some promising advanced metrics mixed in. However, a closer look at the schedule so far indicates Boston could be a bit of a paper tiger. Five of their first eight wins have come against sub .500 teams. They have a couple bad home losses to tanking squads (Utah, Brooklyn). There are a couple of quality wins in there (Philadelphia, Cleveland, Orlando) but the Magic were the only team at full strength for that matchup.
Friday’s loss to the Nets was a reminder of how quickly this season could unravel. Boston’s regulars (Derrick White and Sam Hauser) remain mired in shooting slumps and Boston’s defensive flaws are apparent if the energy isn’t there. Mental mistakes were also evident on Friday that led to a Josh Minott benching in the second half.
Without Minott and Walsh, even lowly opponents like the Nets have a big athleticism edge against Boston’s second units and that was on display as the Nets took the game over with a 19-4 run with Brown on the bench. Mazzulla did not make a substitution or call a timeout in the final five minutes of the quarter as the Nets built a big lead.
“We need to play with an edge defensively and offensively,” Brown said. “Like, we’ve got to be the harder playing team. That can’t be negotiable. And tonight we weren’t. Brooklyn was the harder playing team. They played with more edge and they deserved to win tonight.”
With nine of Boston’s next ten opponents being teams above .500, it’s going to become apparent quickly what direction this team is going. Efforts like we saw Friday could lead to Boston tumbling quickly down the standings when the degree of difficulty increases against opponents. Brown knows the level of urgency that needs to be there starting on Sunday night against the Magic.
“Every game is a test,” Brown said. “Every game is a test, so I just take it one game at a time. The schedule is the schedule, and we’ve just got to keep going. My focus is on: How can I better prepare myself, and how can I make my teammates better? But we’ve got to have some enthusiasm for the game. At the end of the day, you’ve got to play basketball.”
Joe Mazzulla needs to find that energy every game now for the Celtics to have a chance against tough opponents. On Friday, he waited too long, keeping Hugo Gonzalez on the bench until the fourth quarter and keeping Jordan Walsh on the sidelines during the Nets’ 19-4 run. Those were the only two guys Brown praised after the loss.
“I thought those guys did a good job – Hugo, Jordan – bringing pressure,” Brown said. “Just overall as a group, we just lacked energy. I want to be out on the floor for my team and I wasn’t able to be out there, and I guess I gotta do better in certain spots. But just overall, just a lackluster game from the Celtics.”
The Celtics get a chance to bounce back quickly but the season could get away from them in a hurry without some added urgency.
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