PHOENIX - For better or worse - depending on the opponent - the Celtics [team stats] have taken to playing to the level of their competition. They will soar with the eagles and sink with the swine.
Having completed the dastardly double of losing to the worst two teams in the Pacific Division on consecutive nights, there is only one positive way to spin this: The Celts will be fine when the playoffs get here because the bad teams will have left for the year.
But that 1 vs. 8 matchup could be a bear.
“We’ve had our troubles against some of the lower teams,” said Ray Allen, “and that’s not a habit you want to get into.”
The issue was brought into full contrast when the Celts went into Orlando Christmas Day and spanked the Magic with Paul Pierce [stats] back up north watching on television. While losing to the Clippers and Warriors in the ensuing days may have been a bit of a shock to the Celtics senses, the fact they played poorly should not have been a surprise.
The Celts have now lost to four teams that are in the bottom two in their respective divisions (Philadelphia, Indiana, the Clippers and Golden State). And they’ve had very shaky wins over the Knicks, New Jersey, Washington and Memphis.
Yet they’ve won at Cleveland, San Antonio and Orlando. Go figure.
On one hand, Doc Rivers has derided his team’s play even in victories. But he seemed to be debating himself when he let his guys off the hook.
“If you look around, all the good teams have tight games against the lower teams,” he said. “These are NBA players, so they’re going to play well. And it’s tough to win an NBA game. I think if you ask the bad teams, they’ll tell you that.”
The problem the Celtics encounter is a boredom of sorts. They generally lose the mental energy to simply run their stuff and make extra passes when they get around teams they see as beneath them. On the rare occasions when they stick with their plan, they systematically run the foe out of the building.
But too often they take the ball and try to make individual plays. The issue is even more acute down the stretch. With the experience and alleged wisdom on the team, it just shouldn’t be happening this often.
“The expectation level for that is here,” said Kevin Garnett of playing smart basketball. “We expect to execute coming down the latter part of the game. You hit it right on the head, man. We’re an older team. We’re a veteran team, so some of the things we’re doing, we know better than. When we get some practice time, I’m sure we’ll work on some things and get better.”
Garnett then talked about some of the double-teams he’s been receiving and promised to fix things.
“I’ve got to do a better job of consolidating the ball,” he said. “I know I can do that. I think at this point everybody’s going to look at themselves in the mirror and try to do what they can to get ready for Phoenix. But I can do a lot more, and I will.”
Looking at the team overall, he added, “It’s got to be more grit. I feel like we’re playing hard, but we’ve got to put the grit into it.”
Without the grit, things could get rough. With a 23-7 record, a few stray losses don’t mean a great deal - except one measly regular-season game can be what separates them from, say Cleveland, and forces them to play Game 7 on the road.
“Everything will be defined in small moments at the end of the year,” Allen said. “We’ll look at these moments and they’ll add up. We’ll stand in a certain position, and we have to hope we don’t look back on these kind of games and regret what happened.”
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