From earlier today(4/1):
When asked that question on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher and Rich Show Thursday morning, Ainge proved he’s just as baffled as everyone else.
“I wish I had an answer to that,” the Celtics’ president of basketball operations said.
Ainge touched on the team’s continued struggles after the trade deadline in the interview, withstanding questions about the Celtics’ effort level and mental discipline when faced with adverse conditions. Those issues were on display Wednesday night as the Celtics fell behind to the Mavericks early before mounting a late-game comeback that eventually fell short in the final minute.
“I do see adversity having an impact,” he admitted. “I know guys were ready to play. They were excited to play. They were in good spirits. They started the game out with energy. And when shots didn’t fall in the first half, I just saw some heads hanging.”
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens went so far as to question his team’s collective toughness after the loss, saying Boston lets adversity “take us out of what we’re doing for too long.”
“We need to show up and compete every night with urgency, all the way through the game regardless of what just happened,” he said. “And so, I don’t really care about the future and I don’t really care about the first 48 games. Like, what are we going to do? That’s just the question. It’s time to show up.”
Ainge, meanwhile, said he holds “everyone,” including himself and Stevens, responsible for the team’s subpar performance this season. But he clarified Stevens has “zero responsibility” for players missing shots or playing with a lack of energy, saying the idea that coaches should motivate players is “way overrated.”
“I’m putting it on my players’ shoulders right now,” Ainge said. “I think they need to look internally, they need to want it more, and they need to be able to fight through adversity better. That’s all I’m saying.
“I know Brad fights through adversity,” he added. “I know he’s preparing for the game and he’s respecting every opponent that he sees. I don’t have any doubt about that. But I’m worried about some nights the way we come out to play.”
Ainge said the team’s attitude and chemistry over the last 24 games of the regular season as much as the results will factor into how the Celtics approach the offseason: whether or not to continue building around the pieces they have currently or “mix things up” with the roster.
But he pushed back on suggestions that drastic changes must be made.
“I still see our guys working. I still see them motivated…I still like a lot of our guys and their everyday approach to the game.”
“I just…for the life of me, it’s hard to understand how we can play so hard and so well for those 30-32 minutes a night and just not — and every night it’s a different time, it can be the fourth quarter, it can be the second quarter or the first quarter — we just don’t play well. And we don’t fight as hard as we need to through that adversity. I wish I had a better answer for you. I don’t.”
Ainge also repeatedly mentioned the Celtics’ struggles to stay fully healthy and available for games, which was punctuated by Robert Williams unexpectedly missing the Mavericks game with a non-COVID illness.
“There is no continuity. There’s different players in different positions every night,” he said. “We’d just like to get everybody not sick and not injured so we can play together for a couple weeks at a time and see how we do.”
On a health-related note, Ainge told Toucher and Rich he has received a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine after meeting the state’s age requirements for eligibility (he’s 62). He mentioned he has spoken with a number of Celtics and believes “most of them” intend to get their COVID shots in the next few weeks, though he also said there will be “at least a couple” who won’t want to get the vaccine.
