Celtics aren’t concerned with recent struggles: ‘I feel pretty confident that we’ll figure it out’

BOSTON – Simply two nights after their 28-point collapse towards the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics dropped an excruciating game to the New York Knicks in double-overtime. To make issues worse, on the primary evening of a back-to-back with a street recreation towards the Cleveland Cavaliers staring them within the face on Monday evening, 4 Celtics logged 40+ minutes within the loss.

“In a recreation like this, two nice groups enjoying towards one another, they made a pair extra performs than we did,” head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “These performs get magnified and we simply have to maneuver on. I assumed we obtained higher, I assumed we did a whole lot of issues on each ends of the ground. I assumed they made a couple of extra performs than we did.”

Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon had been out for Boston, however Jalen Brunson was lacking for New York. It was a troublesome battle between two East playoff groups, however the Knicks discovered an edge.

Immanuel Quickley stepped up in a giant approach, pouring a career-high 38 factors to go together with eight rebounds, seven assists, 4 steals, and two blocks. He shot 15-of-28 from the sphere and 5-of-12 from past the three-point arc.

For the second recreation in a row, Boston blew a double-digit lead simply to go down by double digits later within the contest. They broke down in a number of aspects of the sport, with Mazzulla pointing to “empty possessions on the offensive finish, after which transition and fouling.”

This disintegration in play has rapidly turn into synonymous with the Celtics, as they’ve stumbled out of the All-Star break. Even of their wins, issues haven’t been fairly.

However Mazzulla isn’t apprehensive.

“Zero concern. Simply because there’s 17 video games left doesn’t imply that there’s any distinction in how I anticipated the season would go,” he mentioned. “And also you clearly need to be enjoying your greatest basketball later within the season as you get nearer to the playoffs, however this can be a robust stretch. We’ve got to study from it in order that we are able to use it later within the 12 months.”

Boston is now 3-3 for the reason that break, however their three wins have all include asterisks, and their three losses had been all brutal.

The Celtics barely scraped by the Indiana Pacers. They almost fell to the Philadelphia 76ers earlier than Jayson Tatum nailed a game-winner. And in what ought to have been a convincing victory, the Cleveland Cavaliers made a surge on the finish of regulation to solid some doubt about Boston’s capability to shut.

As for the three losses, one was a near-wire-to-wire loss to the Knicks, and within the different two, the Celtics held double-digit leads earlier than crumbling.

“We’re not locking in as a lot as we have to,” mentioned Celtics large man Al Horford. “That is the second time that we type of have had a lead, we be ok with it, a staff makes a run, and we simply type of let him again within the recreation. And all through the season, you’re gonna have adversity. We’ve performed fairly good basketball a lot of the 12 months, and this can be a time the place you tighten up, you repair a few of these issues, a few of these points, or it goes the opposite approach. And the character of our group, the type of guys that we have now, I really feel fairly assured that we’ll determine it out. Clearly, you don’t need to drag this out. And like I’ve mentioned earlier, we need to play our greatest basketball. However this is part of the season. There are ups, there are downs, and inside video games, we’re enjoying nicely, then we type of go on a rut, looks as if we are able to’t get out of it. And we have now to remain the course, and I really feel like we’ll be advantageous. However undoubtedly, it’s not nice to undergo this proper now.”

After a sizzling offensive begin to the season, the Celtics have struggled with consistency on that aspect of the ground. They undergo tough patches the place they’ll’t appear to purchase a bucket, and on the identical time, the opposing staff runs free in transition, inflicting the type of lopsided runs which have decided their final two contests.

With the playoffs simply over a month away, the Celtics ought to be gearing up for an enormous run, however as a substitute, they’re coping with quintessential on-court points. It’s not a really perfect state of affairs, nevertheless it’s additionally not one thing they’re getting too involved about.

“I imply, we haven’t performed nicely,” mentioned Tatum. “We performed higher at present than we did final recreation. However total, we’ve nonetheless had an excellent 12 months. I feel we simply hit somewhat tough patch proper now, which is okay. We might have preferred to win each recreation popping out the break, however most likely wasn’t going to occur. However we’re nonetheless in an excellent place, and we nonetheless obtained time to determine it out. And we’re going to. Some minor issues, however we all know we’re able to.”