When the Celtics humiliated the Suns with a blowout victory in early December, it gave the impression to be one thing of a decisive warning shot to the remainder of the NBA. At that time, the C’s had not often cratered en path to their 21-5 begin.
But that victory finally got here with an necessary lesson to recall. Their first droop of the season got here straight after, and after they have been blown out similarly in Oklahoma City in January, interim head coach Joe Mazzulla reminded them of that sport in Phoenix.
The message? Don’t get too excessive on the victories and never too low over the losses. And it takes greater than an excellent begin to be an excellent crew.
Almost two months later, the Celtics are nonetheless atop the NBA however have proven to be weak. And their inconsistencies have develop into a pattern. Those reminders have been loud on a chilly evening at TD Garden on Friday. Two nights after their record-breaking demolition of the Nets, they took one other step again with a irritating 106-94 loss to the undermanned Suns.
The Celtics are actually simply 1 1/2 video games forward of the Bucks and a couple of 1/2 video games forward of the 76ers, with matchups in opposition to each groups coming earlier than the All-Star break.
Jaylen Brown scored 27 factors, Derrick White had 19 factors, however Jayson Tatum scored simply 20 factors on 3-for-15 taking pictures, emblematic of a horrific taking pictures evening from the Celtics, who shot 38.7% from the ground and 26.3% from lengthy vary within the loss to the Suns, who have been with out star Devin Booker and have been coming off a 32-point loss to the Hawks two nights in the past.
Source: www.bostonherald.com