Time To Panic?

[Phantom255x]

Not gonna lie I am getting worried

It is not ideal at all when teams are dominating us inside with both scoring AND rebounding, and frankly our defense has been bad too. Then in the 4th quarter of close games it is a bad mix of missing shots, not being able to get stops, and having inexcusable turnovers at critical times and making poor decisions in general

Last year we had Brissett and Tillman as solid depth and guys who could soak up minutes when needed. Unfortunately Tillman might have regressed (otherwise idk why he does not play) and Walsh/Queta are still developing but definitely cannot be counted on for significant playoff minutes. Horford is a year older and KP is simply injury prone.

Also does not help that unlike last year we do not have much of a cushion with the league such as winning the East by 14 games. Cavs look like they will win 65-70 games. Knicks are legit. Healthy Magic are as well. And the West is also pretty loaded headlined by OKC

I am not changing my BOS > OKC Finals pick yet but it is sadly getting close 

[Neurotic Guy]

Not gonna lie I am getting worried

It is not ideal at all when teams are dominating us inside with both scoring AND rebounding, and frankly our defense has been bad too. Then in the 4th quarter of close games it is a bad mix of missing shots, not being able to get stops, and having inexcusable turnovers at critical times and making poor decisions in general

Last year we had Brissett and Tillman as solid depth and guys who could soak up minutes when needed. Unfortunately Tillman might have regressed (otherwise idk why he does not play) and Walsh/Queta are still developing but definitely cannot be counted on for significant playoff minutes. Horford is a year older and KP is simply injury prone.

Also does not help that unlike last year we do not have much of a cushion with the league such as winning the East by 14 games. Cavs look like they will win 65-70 games. Knicks are legit. Healthy Magic are as well. And the West is also pretty loaded headlined by OKC

I am not changing my BOS > OKC Finals pick yet but it is sadly getting close 

I may be wrong but I don?t think Brissett was anything 30 games in. In fact, he wasn?t all that much throughout.  Neither was Tillman.  Hauser isn?t right yet and PP better than anyone off the bench last year.  I?m confident that between Q and Luke the Cs make up for anything Brissett and X did last year.  And Walsh may be a contributor by the time the year plays out.  What I recall mostly about Oshe is an inability to finish.

[droopdog7]

Time to panic?  No.

[Goldstar88]

[SparzWizard]

When you lost 4 of your last 6 including four home games in the month of December (AND COUNTING, they still have the Raptors coming into town on NYE)  while your competition has been steadily winning games then yes it's time to panic.

Teams like Cleveland and New York all made roster improvements over the summer. At this rate I think this team is looking more like a second-round exit.

[scaryjerry]

Last years team was certainly much better and had a historically easy path to the title in the playoffs but because they?re defending champs ill still give them the benefit of the doubt

[keevsnick]

Even with this recent string of losses the Celtics are on a 59-23 pace, which would be the second-best record of the Tatum/Brown era. That's despite some injuries with Holiday, Horford, Hauser and Kornet all missing 6-7 games each and KP missing 21.

So time to Panic? No.

In the Nuggets title run in 2023 they had a 2-4 stretch, 0-3 stretch and 0-4 stretch.
In the Warriors title run in 2022 they had a 3-7 stretch, a 2-9 stretch and a 1-7 stretch.
In the Bucks title run in 2021 they had an 0-5 stretch and a 3-6 stretch.
In the Raptors title run in 2020 they had a 1-4 stretch, a 4-6 stretch and a 2-4 stretch

The Celtics by comparison are 2-4 in their last six. Even championship level teams will typically go through a couple of rough stretches a year.  Celtics are in one right now, but they'll be fine.

[Roy H.]

No, but time to make adjustments.

[Who]

Too much time without Porzingis. Asking too much of the players to maintain the same standard without him for such a long period of time.

They are a bit worse but this is mostly due to injuries. I am not worried about that. Only concern is whether they will be healthy or not come playoff time.

[celticinorlando]

-This team seems content with just making the playoffs and not worrying about match ups, seedings or home court advantage. That to me is not something I want to see. Regular season is meaningless to this group unfortunately.


-Feels like the sweet spot is the 3 seed. Cavs will go all in for the 1 seed. Will that cost them in the playoffs? Knicks will pass the Cs up at some point in the next 10 days.

-Concerned that KP cannot stay healthy whatsoever. Think Jrue is more load management than anything.

-And yes, bench scoring is an issue. Hauser is boom or bust. PP has been doing the heavy lifting. Cs need a scoring wing off the bench and Walsh is not the answer.

-I don't think this team plays as hard as they did last year. They are coasting and too comfortable. Defense has not been any good this entire season.

-Offense is lazy. Sure 3s are great but when you clearly can see guys are not making them...GO TO THE RIM.

-Lost 4 of the last 6 with a brutal Jan. on deck.

[ozgod]

I'll start to get worried if they are still scuffling like this after the All Star break. Regular season is for building habits, refining combinations, and for some players, getting through the boredom of it all. It's happened to all of us, we have days at work where we just want to get through it. Regular season is also for making adjustments, and it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments Joe and Brad make.

But fan is short for fanatic, so panic after substandard play is perfectly understandable 

[Surferdad]

If you define ?panic? as ?make a risky or expensive personnel move?, then yes it is that time.

I hated JT?s performance last night but he is not getting traded. None of the top-7 are getting traded.

That leaves the bench (after PP and Horford) which has been putrid. I would trade any of them including Hauser. Need a backup center. Queta not ready, Luke is just plain awful.

[Donoghus]

I'll start to get worried if they are still scuffling like this after the All Star break. Regular season is for building habits, refining combinations, and for some players, getting through the boredom of it all. It's happened to all of us, we have days at work where we just want to get through it. Regular season is also for making adjustments, and it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments Joe and Brad make.

But fan is short for fanatic, so panic after substandard play is perfectly understandable 

Bingo.

[Roy H.]

If you define ?panic? as ?make a risky or expensive personnel move?, then yes it is that time.

I hated JT?s performance last night but he is not getting traded. None of the top-7 are getting traded.

That leaves the bench (after PP and Horford) which has been putrid. I would trade any of them including Hauser. Need a backup center. Queta not ready, Luke is just plain awful.

I don't think that Luke is awful.  Even during our five recent losses, the team has a net-positive point differential on the court.  He's a limited player -- he's not super-athletic and his hands haven't been great recently -- but he's a positive contributor.

[keevsnick]

If you define ?panic? as ?make a risky or expensive personnel move?, then yes it is that time.

I hated JT?s performance last night but he is not getting traded. None of the top-7 are getting traded.

That leaves the bench (after PP and Horford) which has been putrid. I would trade any of them including Hauser. Need a backup center. Queta not ready, Luke is just plain awful.

I don't think that Luke is awful.  Even during our five recent losses, the team has a net-positive point differential on the court.  He's a limited player -- he's not super-athletic and his hands haven't been great recently -- but he's a positive contributor.

Net rating leaders for the Celtics:

#3: Jayson Tatum at +11.1
#2: Jaylen Brown at +11.7
#1: Luke Kornet at +12.8

Net rating isn't everything, it tells you what has happened on the court, but not why. That said if Luke does suck then it hasn't really mattered, because when he's been on the court the Celtics have still been awesome.