Joe Mazzulla has rarely missed the mark over the last season and a half but offered up a weak excuse last weekend. Mazzulla didn’t hide from the Celtics’ recent shortcomings after an all-too-close win against the Pelicans on Sunday night, but he also suggested the criticism of his team has been shaped in some part by the sizzling starts of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
“When the reference points are different,” Mazzulla said, “you know, there’s two great teams in the league that are having historic seasons, so they become the reference point of, ‘Oh, you’re not as good because you’re not them.’”
No matter what the Thunder and Cavaliers have done, the Celtics aren’t under fire right now because they haven’t played like those teams. They’re under fire because they haven’t played like themselves. With a dismal Wednesday night showing in Toronto, Mazzulla’s team dropped to 7-7 over its last 14 games. In this stretch alone, Boston has fallen to three teams in the bottom 10 of net rating — that’s two more losses against such opponents than the Celtics had all of last season, according to Cleaning the Glass. Since the beginning of December, Mazzulla’s team has also fallen at TD Garden more times (five) than it did last season (four). It’s easy to spot reasons for some of the slippage lately — challenges have included the reincorporation of Kristaps Porziņģis, a bizarre team-wide shooting slump and the apparent presence of a championship hangover — but the Celtics have not lived up to their own standards.
“Last year is over,” Jaylen Brown said after a recent loss to Sacramento.
No kidding. But last season showed what the Celtics can be. What they need to be. On top of their obvious talent, they were the most consistent, poised and detail-focused team. They rarely played down to their competition. They never allowed a letdown to morph into a funk. Starving for the first championship of the Jayson Tatum-Brown era, they rarely let anything stop them. On the rare occasions they did lose, Mazzulla often said he was happy to experience a setback. He believed the Celtics needed to learn from everything in their path, good and bad. They soaked up all the lessons. After years of fruitless playoff runs, they were ready to handle every obstacle. They enjoyed a charmed season.
Now, even with every key player back, the Celtics are discovering the danger of life as a defending champion.
“It takes a special team, a special group, to be able to fight through the adversity and the complacency and the fact that 29 other teams are coming for you every night,” Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And I was going to say I wish them well, but I really don’t.”
Like Malone’s Nuggets, the rest of the league is gunning for the Celtics. Derrick White said opponents spent the whole summer devising ways to slow the Boston attack. He believes the Celtics need to adjust to the new defensive coverages against them, but they haven’t lived up to the task lately. The team’s outside shooting numbers have been brutal since the beginning of December, especially with the starting lineup on the court. Oddly, that also might be a reason for hope. At some point, in all likelihood, the percentages will begin to normalize. If and when they do, the Celtics should go on a run. For now, they’re deep into a hunt for their old rhythm. When a shooting slump extends beyond a month, that’s long enough to suggest it likely stems from other issues. As Tatum said after Wednesday night’s loss to Toronto, the Celtics are “going through some sh–.”
The Celtics are struggling after an embarrassing loss to the Raptors. (Cole Burston / Getty Images)
Several problems have popped up. The Celtics haven’t remembered yet how to play with Porziņģis. He has said several times he’s still not in great shape after missing the first 17 games of the season and dealing with several minor injuries since his return. Jrue Holiday, who never seemed to miss corner 3-pointers last season, has nosedived to 27.9 percent on such attempts. His overall 3-point shooting (33.7 percent) would be his worst since 2018-19. Mazzulla has pivoted away from Sam Hauser lately. The sharpshooter, who averaged 22 minutes per game last season, has reached the 20-minute mark only once in his last 12 games. The minimization of his playing time is just one reason why the Celtics’ 3-point rate has plummeted over the past month.
They used to give themselves a math advantage from behind the arc almost every night. Not so much these days. Even with almost entirely the same roster, the Celtics’ winning formula has changed. Some difficulties of that reality have emerged since the team got close to fully healthy. Payton Pritchard has grown out of his old role, but who should give up minutes for him? White deserves more shots than he has gotten recently, but where should his extra touches come from? The Celtics have consistently dominated opponents with Luke Kornet on the court, even during this rut, but his additional opportunities take away from Hauser’s chances. Boston, which has predictably altered its defensive style since Porziņģis’ return, has been shredded from behind the 3-point arc over the last month.
While the Celtics have revealed some weaknesses, their competition has strengthened. Their playoff run shouldn’t be as easy as it was last season. As Mazzulla stated, the Cavaliers and Thunder have put together historic seasons so far. They each have a realistic chance of winning 70-plus games. While the two teams still have to prove themselves in the playoffs, their regular-season accomplishments scream that they are top-shelf contenders. Boston learned firsthand how hard the Oklahoma City defense can hit while scoring 27 second-half points in a January loss to the Thunder. If the Celtics are a juggernaut this season, they don’t appear to be alone.
They might not be a juggernaut at all. After the recent bumps, the questions about them are fair. Mazzulla has acknowledged his team’s inconsistent play. He has said the Celtics need to rebuild the details, habits, execution, togetherness and trust that carried them to the championship last season. He is right about all that. When discussing it, he just had no reason to mention the two teams ahead of Boston in the standings. He did so during a response to the simple question, “What is making this stretch so challenging?”
Though the Celtics did lose to Oklahoma City earlier this month, thanks to a second half of bad offense, the Thunder and Cavaliers have had nothing else to do with this shaky stretch for Mazzulla’s team. On the night of Mazzulla’s comments, those teams didn’t nearly give away a late lead with a string of mistakes. They didn’t fumble a ball out of bounds against minimal defensive pressure late in the fourth quarter, miss two straight free throws in the final minute or commit a five-second violation with 6.6 seconds left in a one-point game. They didn’t barely hold on, at home, against a 10-32 Pelicans squad or fall flat on their faces one game later against the 10-31 Raptors. Still, Mazzulla referenced the Thunder and Cavaliers when asked about the Celtics’ recent difficulties.
“They’re great, great teams having historical years,” Mazzulla said, “and we’re on our own path that we have to be able to work through.”
As much accountability as Mazzulla has shown otherwise, his decision to bring the Thunder and Cavaliers into the discussion served as a deflection of the blame his team deserves for its swoon. Could the Celtics pull themselves out of it soon? Sure. It would be a surprise if they don’t, at least to some extent. As much as they have struggled lately, a bad spell in December and January won’t disqualify them from trying to become the first repeat title winner since the 2017-18 Warriors. Not every champion wins as Boston did last season. Some paths to a title are more arduous.
If the Celtics solve their issues, all of their goals remain in play. They don’t need to look far into their past for an example of how to shed a damaging regular-season stretch. In 2022, they advanced to the NBA Finals after sitting in 11th place in the Eastern Conference in January. Things haven’t been nearly that bad this season. As brilliantly as the Cavaliers and Thunder have played, Mazzulla’s team remains the title favorite, according to BetMGM’s online odds.
The Celtics’ best has been good enough before. They are on a journey to find it again. Even if they do, the Cavaliers and Thunder appear dangerous enough to give the Celtics a playoff scare — or worse. That’s just not why Mazzulla’s team is feeling some heat now.
(Top photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
