Jaylen Brown didn't hide his frustration with Friday's loss against the Nets as his playing time was limited because of foul trouble.
Jaylen Brown didn't hide his frustration with Friday's loss against the Nets as his playing time was limited because of foul trouble.Barry Chin/Globe Staff
It seems the Celtics are still carrying the arrogance and bravado from previous years despite having a dramatically different roster that can’t afford that mentality.
On Friday, the Celtics returned home after a two-day break to face the lowly Brooklyn Nets in the third NBA Cup contest, the final tune-up before a difficult 10-game stretch that includes contests against Orlando, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, the New York Knicks, Washington, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami and two against Toronto.
The opportunity to win is scarce in this league and the Celtics have to approach every game with a focused mindset or they won’t win. The days of a talent-laden roster being outplayed and outhustled but winning on skill are over.
The Celtics were handed a bitter 113-105 loss to the 3-12 Nets because they were out-focused, took their opponent too lightly and then watched as their valiant rally fell short because they ran out of gas and had no answer for the Nets’ most legitimate player, Michael Porter Jr., who scored at will in the final minutes.
The Celtics left the game embarrassed and they should have been. With a chance to keep their NBA Cup chances alive they lost to a team that’s obviously tanking another season. Meanwhile, the Celtics are supposed to be playoff contenders. They have stayed healthy throughout this injury riddled early NBA season as coach Joe Mazzulla seeks to find the right rotations and combinations to win.
He couldn’t be blamed for shorting a productive player minutes against the Nets. The players who have been relied upon to play well just didn’t and missing shots is having a profound impact on the likes of Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, who combined for one field goal in the second half.
In this situation, Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernandez outcoached his counterpart Mazzulla. The Nets were more aggressive defensively than three days previously and the Celtics had no cohesion. On the defense side, the Celtics again fouled far too often, allowing the Nets to reach the bonus in the final 4:48 of the second period and 5:38 of the third.
The Celtics don’t allow themselves to play with their desired aggressiveness defensively because they commit too many silly fouls. That’s been a problem all season.
The Nets were allowed to control most of the game. They were the better team and deserved to win. Now Fernandez is a good coach and the Nets aren’t throwing a bunch of scrubs out there. They are a legitimate rebuilding team with some quality prospects, but the Celtics didn’t take their opponent with the same seriousness as before and were humbled because of it.
“There’s a ton of lessons,” Mazzulla said. “They played better than we did. Regardless of our record, we are at our best, we have to play at such a different level, physically, mentally, to be at our best. If we don’t play at that level physically and mentally, we can lose any night to anybody.”
Perhaps that message is not resonating with the entire roster, but Jaylen Brown definitely called out his teammates by imploring them to play hard and focused whenever they hit the floor. It was a frustrating night for Brown, who was limited to less than 32 minutes because of foul trouble that included a controversial fifth foul midway through the third quarter when he was called for a push off on Brooklyn’s Terance Mann during a drive.
Of his five fouls, two were offensive and Brown is finding himself more at odds with officiating than in years past. He is 10th in the NBA with 52 personal fouls.
“I’m doing my best, man. I’m doing my best,” he said when asked about his focus despite disputed foul calls. “Tough whistle tonight. Some of them I could be better on for sure. Some of them, like … no comment.”
Fouling has been the team’s biggest issue. They are 25th in the NBA in opponents free throws and 25th in the league in personal fouls. Can fouling be linked to an unproductive offense? It’s definitely easier for opposing teams to score, especially in transition, when they’re not taking the ball out of the net.
There is no margin for error now as the Celtics face a stretch that could decide whether they are a playoff or lottery team. They have yet to prove capable of competing for the playoffs all season because at 8-8, they are 11th in the Eastern Conference.
And with four teams in the East essentially tanking, the Celtics will spend the season being one of 11 teams competing for 10 postseason spots. And to claim one of those spots, the Celtics will need to be more focused and passionate than Friday against Brooklyn because they are not the same team as they have been in the past, and maybe some players have yet to realize that.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.