The Celtics have at least one more test to pass
Losing to the Pistons ever is a bad look. They are the worst team in the league. I know the Celtics were on a back to back and missing two of their starters in Smart and Rob Williams. Still, woof. And even bigger woof because of how it went down. with the final 2 possessions. An opportunity for both Brown and Tatum to seal the win and both young “Budding” Super Stars failed.
I’m not going to panic here and call it a trend. The team is coming off a 9 game winning streak where they passed the eye ball test and metric test with flying colors. That includes a 50 point beat down on the league MVP Joel Embid and long time rival 76ers. But, I still can’t shake the images of Tatum fumbling the ball away in game 6 of the ECF against Miami in the bubble.
I go back to the bubble because really it’s the last game of significance this team has played. They were 2 games from the NBA finals and choked it away with just down right awful late game execution. Tatum getting Mutombo’d by Bam didn’t help. Since then the Celtics have been a less than .500 team until this last winning streak. We were more worried about not blowing 20 point leads or just showing up than 4th quarter execution.
I will say this. They are close. In the Denver and Atlanta games they came back from half time deficits and road their terrific defense to convincing second half performances. But, neither game put the ball in Tatum’s hand with a chance to win in the final possessions of the game.
This season the Celtics are 5 - 13 in games decided by 5 or less points. Only the Orlando Magic have a worse record than that. I need to see more opportunities like these over the next few weeks. And I need to see the Celtics pass the eye ball test in those situations to fully buy into their ability to compete with the best.
VISIT OUR TAP ROOM
460 Amerst St. Nashua, NH 03063
Click for your next Brew
RAISING THE BAR ONE CRAFT BEER AT A TIME