I think part of it is Stevens' nice guy routine.  He's gotten the players to buy in to a positive atmosphere but they sometimes play like they think they're better than they are instead of always having something to prove.

Mike

I think they may have blown the 8th seed. Nauseating. In another thread someone said they thought this team would barely miss out on the playoffs because of their inconsistency... thinking that person was spot on. Detroit, and now this. Man. I'm going to have a heart attack before I reach 32.

Indiana scares me as the team to take that eight spot and knock us out!!!

Fourth game in six nights.

Isaiah was not healthy still.

No Wade, Andersen, Whiteside (Bosh & McRoberts) and we still lost at home.

I tought we wanted too be in the playoffs...

 

This is what sub 500 teams do.  The only reason playoffs are a possibility is because of the lousy East, not the Celtics talent. 

I thought we fought back with a lot of energy.   We started poorly, IT played poorly coming off the injury, Olynyk was a four point, one rebound no show for seventeen minutes.   It is exactly this kind of play that makes guys make threads defending him and other guys hating on him.  I am not blaming it on him but it is what is folks.

We shot 40% for the game and in the first half much worse than that.  We normally shoot  around 44%.   Call me crazy but I would be having these guys shoot some more free throws.   We shot .68% as a team with Bass and IT being the main FT  missing culprits.  We normally shoot .75% as a team.  But it seems lately we have not done well with FTs!

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2015.html

I think part of it is Stevens' nice guy routine. 

MIA was hungrier than us this one, too.   That is just CBS, it is on the whole team.  In college you can hang out a coach to dry, in the pros, it is not always that simple.   Some of these guys make more than him and they can shut him out as a pro coach has less disciplinary tools at his disposal.   He can't cancel a contract like a scholarship or kick a guy off the team, thereby affecting future earnings.  Pro coaches have to work with their athletes or they will fail.   Bob Knight never went to the pros because of this matter.   Authoritarian coaches do not work in the pros.   Red was not, Phil was not, and Pop was not, grown men won't take that crap like a kid.  Just ask the Rickinator!

Also, these are pros we are talking about not kids.   They should know that they get paid to play and come out playing.  CBS has kept us going all year and playing hard despite some rough seas. Sometimes we are going to play to our talent level and not above it every night.   This season has been a miracle all things considered.  That being said, some it does rest on CBS, I thought he kept KO in too long especially in the second half when he was playing poorly and IT in too long and not 100%.   Also, why not use Bradley more in the fourth than ride out Phil?  I get Phil was having a good game and the best =/- but AB was not shooting that bad.   I know AB got hurt a bit in the first half but he was shooting well from down town at 40% last night.   This part almost made me think we were tanking at some points.

Not sure what is more disconcerting, lasts year's complaints that the Celtics won a couple of late in the season games when people wanted them losing every game or this year's complaints the the Celtics are losing when they have little talent and aren't a good team. Teams can't lose every game to tank and teams can't win every game in a playoff chase.

The Celtics just aren't that good of a team and have injury issues and youth consistency issues. They went 13-6 or whatever their record was because they were playing the easiest schedule in the league and players were playing above their heads as a collective unit.

But a tougher schedule to end the year, injuries, inconsistent play and this team could quite easily end the year 2-12 in their last 14. It's not out of the realm of possibility, especially with this team.