What's with this slump?

[Fierce1]

Outside of Kemba, we don’t have a guy who can get (or manufacture for others) an easy bucket. We have guys who can score under duress. I’d like to believe that Tatum, Brown, Hayward (and Kemba) can all convert low percentage shots better than most players. But someone who can just get a bucket when you need one?

When the playoffs start, I fully expect teams to really key into Kemba (ala Kyrie) to beat us.

Not if Ainge makes a move to upgrade the roster.

[Fafnir]

The Celtics haven't exited in the first round since 2015-2016, when the team was injury ravaged and lost a close series to the Milsap/Horford Hawks.

The only time they've lost in the second round other than last year was in 2010-2011 under Doc.

So what in the world are you talking about? They made the ECF two of the prior 3 years and you're talking about them like they're the freaking OKC with Westbrook yeesh....

People just make up narratives that they want no matter what has happened in reality.

[Fafnir]

Outside of Kemba, we don’t have a guy who can get (or manufacture for others) an easy bucket. We have guys who can score under duress. I’d like to believe that Tatum, Brown, Hayward (and Kemba) can all convert low percentage shots better than most players. But someone who can just get a bucket when you need one?

When the playoffs start, I fully expect teams to really key into Kemba (ala Kyrie) to beat us.

If they're trapping Kemba on the high PnR to truly key in on him like teams have in the regular season I am confident in the team and Kemba to properly attack that.

The team's clutch offense this season has been really good, 6th best in the league. Its actually their clutch defense that's been more of an issue.

[Fierce1]

The Celtics haven't exited in the first round since 2015-2016, when the team was injury ravaged and lost a close series to the Milsap/Horford Hawks.

The only time they've lost in the second round other than last year was in 2010-2011 under Doc.

So what in the world are you talking about? They made the ECF two of the prior 3 years and you're talking about them like they're the freaking OKC with Westbrook yeesh....

People just make up narratives that they want no matter what has happened in reality.

Here's the thing, when the Celts made the 2017 eastern conference finals, nobody expected the Celts to beat the Cavs.

It was a case of the Celts overachieving.

In 2018, Celts reached the east finals without Kyrie and Hayward.
But once again couldn't beat a Cavs team led by Lebron but no Kyrie anymore.

Celts usually overachieve under Brad Stevens.

But can we honestly say that the Celts had a chance against Steph and KD in 2017 and 2018?

It was a different story in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Celts were clearly a top 2 team in the NBA.

This is not making up narratives, this is being realistic.

[GreenRunsDeep33]

Lack of fire/desire from the starters and a lack of talent from the bench.

Opponents are coming at us with haymakers and we're just not responding to it.

I admit that getting blown out at home by both Detroit and Toronto's skeleton crew of a team were hard to take. As was losing to Washington who was missing their best player, and who is terrible even when they have their best player.

I do believe there is a little bit of 'we just have to show up to beat these teams' mentality going on.

This is another problem I see as well. No fire and I believe Stevens demeanor of calm and cool is detrimental to the team. Like Shaq said, something's missing.

[Fierce1]

Outside of Kemba, we don’t have a guy who can get (or manufacture for others) an easy bucket. We have guys who can score under duress. I’d like to believe that Tatum, Brown, Hayward (and Kemba) can all convert low percentage shots better than most players. But someone who can just get a bucket when you need one?

When the playoffs start, I fully expect teams to really key into Kemba (ala Kyrie) to beat us.

If they're trapping Kemba on the high PnR to truly key in on him like teams have in the regular season I am confident in the team and Kemba to properly attack that.

The team's clutch offense this season has been really good, 6th best in the league. Its actually their clutch defense that's been more of an issue.

Clutch defense is a problem because Celts are too short in the clutch.

When Tatum is the tallest Celtic player in the last 4 minutes of the game, Celts are not going to stop anybody getting to the rim.

The Celts' best 5 players are Kemba, Tatum, Brown, Hayward, and Smart.

Celts will get killed inside the paint with that lineup.

[Fafnir]

Feel free to lookup the clutch minutes lineups instead of making baseless assumptions of them being small ball and that's why. Shockingly your fantasy doesn't match up with whats on the court.

So now we're handicapping the ECF runs to retroactively make them 1st/2nd round fodder teams? I'm done discussing things with you.

[Donoghus]

This feels like Billy Madison's "Industrial Revolution" question right now.

[Fafnir]

This feels like Billy Madison's "Industrial Revolution" question right now.

May god have mercy on our souls.

[PhoSita]

It's simple, look at all the playoff caliber teams, all their Centers are not small.

All the playoff teams have a fundamentally sound lineup, they're not using 6-8 or 6-6 players as Centers.

Of all the 16 playoff teams right now, east and west, the Celts have the weakest starting Center.

That doesn't really respond to my question.



The Celtics have lost 13 games this season.


Of those losses, the following are against teams over .500:


@ Milwaukee
@ Philly
vs Raptors
vs Sixers
@ Pacers
@ Denver
@ LA
@ Philly

You'll notice that 6 of those 8 losses are on the road.

The Denver loss was at the end of a long road trip, and Kemba suffered a scary injury early in the game.

Of those losses, three of them (Philly, Toronto, Milwaukee) were on the second night of a back to back.


I'm not seeing a clear narrative forming here that the Celts simply can't compete with the best teams. 

They lost to the Clippers in OT on the road.  They've beaten Toronto twice, Milwaukee once, Dallas twice, Miami once, and Denver once.  Those are all solid wins.


I would love to see the Celts get some signature wins against the best in the league.  But I don't think it's accurate to suggest the Celtics have struggled against the better teams in the league any more than most of the other playoff caliber teams have.

[keevsnick]

It's simple, look at all the playoff caliber teams, all their Centers are not small.

All the playoff teams have a fundamentally sound lineup, they're not using 6-8 or 6-6 players as Centers.

Of all the 16 playoff teams right now, east and west, the Celts have the weakest starting Center.

That doesn't really respond to my question.



The Celtics have lost 13 games this season.


Of those losses, the following are against teams over .500:


@ Milwaukee
@ Philly
vs Raptors
vs Sixers
@ Pacers
@ Denver
@ LA
@ Philly

You'll notice that 6 of those 8 losses are on the road.

The Denver loss was at the end of a long road trip, and Kemba suffered a scary injury early in the game.

Of those losses, three of them (Philly, Toronto, Milwaukee) were on the second night of a back to back.


I'm not seeing a clear narrative forming here that the Celts simply can't compete with the best teams. 

They lost to the Clippers in OT on the road.  They've beaten Toronto twice, Milwaukee once, Dallas twice, Miami once, and Denver once.  Those are all solid wins.


I would love to see the Celts get some signature wins against the best in the league.  But I don't think it's accurate to suggest the Celtics have struggled against the better teams in the league any more than most of the other playoff caliber teams have.

Its worth noting that a few of those great wins have asterisks. One Dallas win was without Luka, one Toronto win without Siakam, the Mia and Den wins were with those teams on a road second game of back to back.

The Celtics have not won a single road game this season against an above 500 team when that team was healthy. The only two such wins were TOR and DAL without Siakam and Luka.

I agree in general tho, not sure I see any big schedule takeaways either way other than they haven't beaten good teams on the road but its kind of been a small sample size.

[wiley]

The C's defense right now is suffering a bit from lack of diversity....brought on by Robert William's absence.  Just having 7 minutes or a bit more per half of Williams can throw a completely different look at teams, so they are less likely to get into a comfort zone on offense.  I'm not calling R Williams a defensive stopper.  I'm saying he gives the team a totally different look and helps break up the rhythm of the other team. 

[ETNCeltics]

We're losing because Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Gordon Hayward (and in some cases, Marcus Smart) are not doing their jobs on either end of the court. Blaming it on anything else is just fantasy.

I agree with this.  These 3 guys have let this team down - especially Hayward.  These are guys responsible for the slow starts and inconsistent effort.   

They haven’t been very consistent lately but to say they’ve let the team down is so wrong. Brown/Tatum have carried the team basically for the early stretch of the year.

People are going nuts. It’s a slump. It happens. They were on pace for like 58 wins. They were going to hit a rough patch at some point. Doesn’t mean they have to blow up the entire roster and I don’t think Ainge will.

The same issues that we were talking about before the season (center depth, bench production) are still issues. I do t think they need to be blockbuster moves but some veterans on that roster who know their roles would help them.

Huh? I never once suggested blowing up the roster.

It's undeniable that the difference in the team that played last night and the team that was on a pace for 60+ wins is that those 3 guys were playing much better and more consistent until the last 2-3 weeks or so, and that's the difference in wins and losses. Before the DET game, Brown had shot only 30% over the course of 5 games, and even in the Det game, he went 0-5 from the line and helped make Markeif Morris look like an all star. We're not going to win many with him playing that poorly.

People trying to blame it on a big man or vet off the bench are just grasping at straws. Brown out, Gordon going 1-10, we're not going to beat a good team, not even with Kemba going nuts. Those 3 guys haven't generally played well over the last several games. That's not a reason to blow the roster up, it's a statement of fact as to why we're losing.

[Sophomore]

Outside of Kemba, we don’t have a guy who can get (or manufacture for others) an easy bucket. We have guys who can score under duress. I’d like to believe that Tatum, Brown, Hayward (and Kemba) can all convert low percentage shots better than most players. But someone who can just get a bucket when you need one?

When the playoffs start, I fully expect teams to really key into Kemba (ala Kyrie) to beat us.

This is the key to our playoff ceiling. When the defensive intensity cranks up - and we’re playing longer, good teams - can we still get buckets? Kemba is a warrior and highly skilled, but his height can be a limiting factor. He needs help. Tatum, Brown, and Hayward have

[SHAQATTACK]

pre tanking slump.


also ....bad Karma jinx on all ya ll who said Ducan was greater than KG , has brought bad luck down upon the Celtics