The Celtics completed their road trip in Toronto tonight and the result wasn’t pretty. They got absolutely battered by the Raptors 118-95 and finished the road trip with nothing to show for it.
Early on, it actually looked like the Celtics came to play. They hung with the Raptors throughout the first quarter, rolling with all of the punches that they threw. The C’s actually ended the quarter with a 32-30 lead. It all went downhill from there. After scoring two points, the Celtics allowed the Raptors to put together a 18-0 run, which then became a 36-13 second quarter. The Celtics went into the second half down 21 points and things were looking up a bit as the Celtics cut the lead down to 15. After that, they allowed the Raptors to put together yet another run. This time it was 17-2 and was good enough to put them up by 30. Toronto took a 27 point lead into the fourth and the game was already over by then. The Celtics didn’t really make much way in the fourth and the Raptors coasted to a 23 point win on National TV.
There have been plenty of disappointing losses this season. This one certainly ranks pretty highly amongst the others. It put the cherry on top of an awful start to the post all star part of the season, and has put quite the damper on the Celtics’ goal of climbing the standings.
At this point I think all fans are getting frustrated and are entering panic mode. I’m starting to get there myself, and I’m usually quite optimistic no matter what. It just seems like nothing is changing when change is something that needs to happen. The team just isn’t playing hard night in an night out and it shows in their record. With 21 games left, the Celtics have just 3 less losses than they did all of last season. That was a season where they were riddled with injuries and weren’t supposed to be much of anything. This season was the year where they were supposed to dominate the East and walk all over everyone in their path. Instead, they’re one of the biggest disappointments in the league and are looking like they may not get any kind of home court advantage in the post season.
Something needs to change. I’m not sure who’s responsible, it could be Brad, it could be the players, it could be a mix of both. Either way, they all need to be professionals and go out there and start winning games as a teams. Aron Baynes should not be as much of a difference maker as the record has shown this season. They’re now 15-12 without him in the lineup. His presence should not be determining whether or not they’re winning games. There are too many guys on this team capable of stepping up for this to be happening.
Kyrie is supposed to be this star player that carries the Celtics to a championship? HE SCORED 7 POINTS TONIGHT. That’s it. Sure, there have been plenty of games where he’s been the guy to lead them to victory, but this was a huge game, as the remainder of the games this season are all going to be, and he didn’t show up for it. He seemed to kind of give up on the team, the effort certainly hasn’t been there as much on the defensive end. Then he wouldn’t really answer any questions from the media after the game regarding what the team needs to do to be better. How about taking some responsibility instead of moping around?!?!?
Brad Stevens has been taking tons of criticism because of the recent struggles, and he’s owned up to it plenty, saying that he has to be better. It doesn’t excuse what’s going on with his team, but it helps that he owns it. Sooner or later, there’s going to have to be some change in the success of the team or the pressure is going to increase even more. I’m not a really big fan of blaming the coach when things don’t go well. It isn’t all his fault that the team isn’t playing to it’s potential. He’s got some responsibility in that category, but it’s still on the players too. At this point, I’m not sure firing Brad Stevens is even remotely close to the answer to these problems.
The Celtics have struggled to play with effort for 48 minutes. They’ll play one or two good quarters, and drop the ball for the rest of the game. Part of this is on Brad, but he can only do so much when it comes to effort. The guys all have to buy in and play hard in order for the team to succeed. It just isn’t happening. The only one that I saw really playing hard tonight was Marcus Smart. He came out after the half and tried to spark a run by hustling and creating extra possessions. There were a few others that showed some signs of effort, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Something needs to happen for the Celtics to get their shit together and wake up. There’s another month left of this season before the playoffs start. If they don’t reach the NBA Finals this season is going to be a failure, bottom line. Barring a catastrophic injury, that is the goal and nothing less should be acceptable. Maybe this game will be a wake up call, but I’ve said that too many times to count so far this season, so who knows? I’m not inside the organization, I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors, who’s getting along and who’s not, or whether or not guys are putting in the effort necessary to win another championship.
From a fan’s perspective, it’s very frustrating to see your team going out and getting embarrassed when you know they can be better. That’s been the story of this entire season, and obviously no one knows how to fix it because it keeps happening. The only solution has been Aron Baynes, and I refuse to attribute all of the bad things that have happened to him being injured. This game tonight wasn’t one I expected the Celtics to necessarily go out an win, but I did expect it to at least be respectable.
The first step to fixing this mess that is the Boston Celtics is to come out tomorrow and play hard at home against the Trail Blazers. I even hope the fans give them some nice motivation as they come onto the court, maybe some boos are in order.
Win or lose, I’m still going to support the team through it all, watch every game, and not give up. I expect the same out of the guys wearing the jerseys. They shouldn’t be giving up.
Thanks for reading!!
Parquet Press 