After advancing to the NBA Finals final season and getting into this season as championship favorites, the Celtics knew they have been going to get everybody’s finest shot. In truth, they embraced it.
“We wanted this,” Grant Williams stated late final month, because the C’s have been going by their first hunch of the season, punctuated by dwelling losses to inferior opponents.
That rut taught the Celtics that they should convey it each evening, and never overlook groups they know they need to beat. For Williams, doing so represents an vital step of development.
“If we do, that’s how we become a great team,” he stated. “Right now we’re a good team but not great yet.”
The Celtics ended 2022 with an encouraging response by beating two championship-level groups, however have reverted again to outdated habits to start 2023.
On paper, Tuesday’s sport in Oklahoma City in opposition to the lottery-bound Thunder – who have been lacking main scorer and budding famous person Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – ought to have been a cakewalk for the Celtics. Instead, it was inexplicably the exact opposite. Without Gilgeous-Alexander, a Thunder roster filled with unproven gamers handed the Celtics an embarrassing 150-117 loss.
“They played harder than us the entire game,” Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla informed reporters in Oklahoma City.
What did Mazzulla say to his crew after this loss? He in contrast it to the Celtics’ 27-point win over the Suns final month. Like then, when he didn’t need to overreact to a dominant victory, he needed to maintain this brutal loss in perspective. It’s all a part of a course of, he stated.
“Whether you win or lose, it’s a level of humility you have to have in the NBA, because those things happen,” Mazzulla informed reporters. “Effort and getting outplayed is unacceptable. …
“You can’t overreact to a game like this in my opinion. If you have the understanding of you’re going to be able to do this to another team, which we did earlier this year, you have to have the understanding that it may happen to you at some point. … I’ll care more about how we respond in the next game and in the future. I may have a distorted view of my mindset, but it’s important to learn from these moments and you have to use them to grow. You don’t really have any other choice.”
The Celtics gave up the second-most factors in a sport in franchise historical past in Tuesday’s loss, and it was the third time they’ve given up not less than 150. The solely time they gave up extra was in a 1979 sport in opposition to the Pistons, after they allowed 160. On Tuesday, it occurred with out Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the evening fifth within the NBA in scoring at 30.8 factors per sport.
Mazzulla acknowledged there might have been some let-up by the Celtics after they realized the Thunder star can be out.
“Maybe a little, but it shouldn’t be that much,” he stated. “It shouldn’t result in that.”
Nothing went proper for the Celtics. Their outdoors capturing struggled once more. Marcus Smart was ejected, and needed to be restrained by Mazzulla as he left the ground. Their protection – which has made strides over the past month – produced a really horrific efficiency. Seven Thunder gamers scored in double figures. Five of them – led by Josh Giddey’s 25 factors – scored not less than 20. Oklahoma City appeared to be working layup traces, and at occasions even dunk traces, on their strategy to 59.2 p.c capturing from the ground.
OKC had extra vitality than the Celtics from the soar and pulled away with a dominant second quarter after the C’s had made a run to finish the primary. The C’s have been outscored 40-21 within the second as they trailed by 20 at halftime and it solely obtained worse within the third, after they allowed 48 factors.
Smart was ejected within the third after receiving a second technical for arguing a name, however that was the least of the Celtics’ worries. The Thunder obtained nearly no matter they needed offensively, whether or not it was attacking the basket or capturing from deep, the place they completed 20-for-40 from past the arc.
“They outplayed us in every aspect of the game,” Mazzulla stated.
Mazzulla, whereas he’s not overreacting to 1 sport, is aware of the Celtics should study from an inexcusable loss like this as they proceed a season with title aspirations.
“We have to coach in the short term and for the long term as well,” he informed reporters. “Again, it may not be the most popular thing to say but you have to go through some (expletive) if you want to get to where you want to get to, whether it’s good or bad. That’s just how it is. We have to go through it and we’ll be judged by how we handle it. If we handle it the right way, it will be good for us. If we don’t, then that’s something we’ll have to address.”
– Robert Williams missed Tuesday’s sport as a result of left knee harm administration. The Celtics middle – who missed the primary 29 video games of the season – hasn’t had any points with the knee since his return, Mazzulla informed reporters in Oklahoma City. Williams is averaging 8.3 factors and seven.3 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per sport in seven video games.
Source: www.bostonherald.com