How do you explain Boston's recent malaise?

[vjcsmoke]

We've never been the best offensive team.
But surprisingly I feel like it is our defense that has let us down.

We have given up 116, 89, 103, and 108 points in our past 4 games losing streak.
Only 1 good defensive performance in 4, unfortunately we paired it up with an all time worse offensive output of only 80 points.

I feel like we need to pick up 2 players.  1 to shore up the defense and 1 for offensive purposes.  Maybe it's been discussed before but Dedmon and Hood if they are available for cheap without giving up any core pieces could really help refresh a struggling lineup right now.

What do you think is wrong with the Celtics now and how would you fix it?

[Rosco917]

Tatum may be hitting the rookie wall. We all should cut him some slack. He's only 19. He must be wondering just how long does this season go on. He should get a second wind.

When Hayward got hurt, the handwriting was on the wall, this Celtic team would struggle to score. Even with Hayward, everyone wondered what the bench would be like, so now we know. This team needs another veteran scorer besides Hayward AND a center that can score the ball and rebound.

You can't just count on just defense 100% of the time. It's the beginning of the journey, so please NO panic trades.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Is it a coincidence that Tatum has been very poor during our streak? I don't think it is. We don't win without his early season contributions, he's not playing well and it is hurting us. We need him to figure it out or we will continue to struggle.

[PhoSita]

They're young.

They've got only one guy who can reliably score 20 points on any given night, which is compounded by the fact they've got a bench that has zero efficient individual scorers.

The second point actually plays somewhat into the defensive issues, I think, because it's harder to maintain energy and focus on defense if you have to struggle for every basket on offense.

They peaked in December and their major competitor in the conference is in complete disarray right now, so there's not a lot of urgency to play hard in late January.

[bleedGREENdon]

Our rebounding has dropped off. Which in turn our defense has looked worse. Brad needs to calm down with the small lineups for long periods of time. Last night we had no business going small against the Lakers at the end of the game. That cost us the game last night.

[rollie mass]

I don't like those overseas games,the last time they did a tour to Europe pre season they came back with illness
Brad said he picked up the new shooter because it was going around-
i posted my concern after Marcus and Baynes had it,And it could sabotage a season
Who knows who is fighting it off or had it and in weakened state.
Jayson looked ill and weakened.Maybe being a new father can lead to complex set of new emotions and stress but he has looked SPACE JAMMED
When a team has illness rip through it it can cause a series of losses players get left in weakened state

[droopdog7]

I explain it by saying its the NBA.  Every team, save for maybe the warriors, goes through these kinds of spells.  Just the way it goes.

[Moranis]

They aren't as good as their record, they lack depth, they have a lot of young players, they lack any consistent scorers outside of Irving, and countless other problems that have existed all year that were being masked by insane play by everyone all at the same time.

[playdream]

Tatum and Brown is young and Morris is healthy now, Kyrie's shoulder looks fine,Smart is elevating his offense Rozier keeps improving
I am not worried a bit

[bdm860]

They've been exceeding expectations all year, so regression to the mean is to be expected.  Tatum may be hitting the wall, along with Ojeleye, both have had drops in numbers in January, which hurts the C's already shallow depth.  Plus being the viewed as a legit team and having the best record in the East puts a target on their back, so it's no surprise that even the scrub teams try to bring their A game against them.  So I'm not surprised at this happening, but I am a little surprised at the timing, as I really thought the London trip would be good for the team.

A stretch of 9 days with 1 game for an overseas trip that's actually a shorter trip than it is to play the West Coast teams.  I imagine they had some team bonding over there, got some good practices in, while also getting some much needed R&R.  So I thought they'd come out of the London trip strong and rejuvenated. Instead they came out of it flat, lethargic, and out of sync.  A week off in the middle of the season should have been a blessing for this team.

[LilRip]

It’s lack of focus. The team turns it on down the stretch but the little things have been killing us (which I attribute to lack of focus). Horford fumbled Kyrie’s pass late in the 4th and Tatum missed a point blank layup. Lakers helped us out a lot by missing FT’s but just lack of focus as well as poor help defense and attention to detail did us in.

[RockinRyA]

The Celtics win vs GSW in the finals 4-2!

[Chris22]

Our rebounding has dropped off. Which in turn our defense has looked worse. Brad needs to calm down with the small lineups for long periods of time. Last night we had no business going small against the Lakers at the end of the game. That cost us the game last night.

Bingo.

But the refs gave LA the game.
36 free throws for LA, 16 for us.
Lakers taking 3 steps without dribbling, no call.
The fix was in.

[apc]

They aren't as good as their record, they lack depth, they have a lot of young players, they lack any consistent scorers outside of Irving, and countless other problems that have existed all year that were being masked by insane play by everyone all at the same time.

Agree with this.
Plus the roster complete overhaul.

[KGs Knee]

It's the time of year when many teams play uninspired basketball. I expect it will be like this until the All-Star break or some other team in the East actually begins to threaten the C's at the top of the standings.

Unfortunately we're in cruise control mode right now.