Cause for Concern

[jadams5214]

After this latest home collapse it's painfully obvious that the Celtics are in trouble. 

Tonight's game featured a Celtic team coming off a disappointing home loss against the Bulls.  They had 3 days off to rest and regroup.  The Mavericks were playing the second game of a road back to back and had lost 3 out of 4 games --- two of them blowouts culminating with Toronto destroying them just last night.  The Celtics desperately needed a home win tonight and simply couldn't get it done.  They once again played a solid first half only to get dominated in the 3rd quarter and ultimately lose another home game.

The excuses are getting harder and harder to come up with lately.  The C's still have a great record but are in no way playing good basketball any longer.  Injuries are part of the game and the great teams overcome them. Marquis is a solid bench player but nothing more and can't be considered too big a factor.   KG being out is a big factor no doubt as he is the heart of the team.  The C's played very well without KG last year for the most part but have been unable to do so this year.  There is no doubt that without KG the C's championship aspirations would take a huge hit.  But that doesn't mean that the team should no longer be able to play solid basketball especially at home.  The Celtics now have more losses at home than all of last year which is mind boggling.   Another huge difference from last year is that the C's would normally put teams away early when playing great first halves.  Now they play well but can't sustain those leads and deliver the knockout blow.  They allow teams to hang around and wind up giving back the lead rather quickly most nights.

Fatigue has also been uses as an excuse especially in the Chicago loss.  All that the board was posting was that the team was tired and would be fine after a rest.  Well after 3 days off they actually played even worse against Dallas than against the Bulls.  The C's absolutely collapsed in the second half and if playing one half of basketball in 4 days caused them to be fatigued and lose this game then that spells trouble.

The poor defense for stretches, the turnovers, lack of intensity in second halves of games have all been prevalent for weeks.  It's just now that people are waking up and recognizing this instead of using excuses.

Blowing big leads to team like the Clippers and Warriors on the road is a bit concerning.  Blowing a huge lead at home to the 76ers is concerning.  Blowing a big lead at home against the Hawks after already losing to them twice is worrisome.  Blowing a big lead at home against a Bulls team that had only 3 road wins all season is alarming.

Failing to win a home game after struggling recently and desperately needing a win after 3 days off --- against a Mavs team that had lost 3 out of 4 games and was playing on back to back nights on the road has to be a huge concern to even the most optimistic of fans. 

Make no mistake the Celtics desperately wanted to beat the Hawks at home last week after losing their edge against the young team but couldn't do it.  They desperately wanted a win against the Mavs tonight to gain some confidence and reestablish their home court advantage.  Unfortunately they simply couldn't do it even after having time to rest and regroup.

The silver lining is that Doc and Danny have to realize now that this team needs help before the trade deadline.  Simply getting KG back isn't a cure all for this teams woes.  If having 2 future Hall of Famers and a probably All Star point guard on the floor isn't enough to consistently win games then this team is in more trouble than people want to acknowledge.

There is still plenty of time to turn things around but it's obvious that something needs to change and quickly.

NO MORE EXCUSES...

[Smitty77]

Jadams,

Totally agree.  That was truly a pathetic effort tonight.  I have preached all year about the effects of back to backs and have used that to explain away our losses.  There is no explaining away our lack of passion and our simple inability to hit free throws (about 45%) over our last 5 to 6 games!!!  That has to do with practice and focus, which we obviously do NOT have right now. 

Danny really needs to make a trade just to shake this team up and wake them up.  I would do it in the next few weeks to send a message to everyone that NO ONE is safe leading up to the trade deadline.  Earn your keep NOW and prove your worth and show that you care about winning every night, or we can trade you!!

Smitty77

[mmbaby]

TP! I hear ya! You are so right. There is no team mentality. I just wrote about this on the new KG post, so am not going to repeat here. Besides, I am way depressed about tonight. If they had played BBD big minutes and allowed him to get into his form, he was ready to be hot tonight. But the competitiveness amongst our own players, grabbing the ball for themselves, not sending the ball to others. Also it seemed there were no planned plays. I know that surely that cannot be true, but that's sure how it looked.

[Who]

The C's still have a great record but are in no way playing good basketball any longer. 

Agreed -- The Celtics are playing mediocre basketball (.500 caliber play) at the moment which is under-performing relative to their talent (47-50 win team without KG + Daniels).

It's disappointing that they're not playing better because they're clearly capable of doing so.

[vinnie]

I am a half-season ticket holder, have been for 10 years, and for the first time in 10 years, I left early tonight. How many more third-quarter collapses am I going to have to sit through? How many more 80 percent opposing team shooting quarters do I have to see. How many more halves do I have to see where the C's lay down and play no defense. Onviously this team is hurt by the loss of KG, but that is no excuse for the total lack of effort. Other than Pierce tonight and Perk on occasion, no one else contributed tonight. Tired of it. No more excuses.

[P2]

Boy, I can't wait for KG to return (and Marquis, too).

[PosImpos]

NO MORE EXCUSES...

Amen.  Yes, KG is still out, but in my mind we have reached that point.

No more excuses.  This team is really underachieving and it's time we recognized it.

[jadams5214]

I posted this thread after the Dallas game --- it's even more true following another 2nd half collapse against a Detroit team that had lost 14 of 17 games before tonight...

[PosImpos]

Yeah this game was exactly the same as the night before, only it was against a much, much worse opponent.