The slap received in the first half against the Pacers marked the spirits in Boston. Even if Joe Mazzulla refuses to worry, the Celtics’ results have been worrying for the past few days, with five defeats in six games, including three in a row at home.
Leaders of the league for long weeks with a fire attack, the Celtics have been skating since their big victory in Phoenix. This first outing of the season is an important turn to negotiate.
“Do we want to become a great team or rather an average team, which has ups and downs, which is irregular and does not meet expectations? »asks Grant Williams for The Athletic. “You can take pleasure in this situation or bounce back and come out of it in a positive way. We can’t let our season get derailed. We are approaching January, so we could easily slow down. But if we want to be a big team, a unique team, we can’t do it. »
Carried by an attack of insane efficiency, by their series of 17 victories in 19 matches and very motivated after their failure in the Finals, as Chris Paul had pointed out, would the Celtics have shown sufficiency recently?
“In that sense, I haven’t done my job,” continues Grant Williams. “I have to do better to instill that fire. We are aware of where we come from, and where we want to come back, so we have to play like that every night. Sometimes, we arrive and we think that we will win with our talent and our qualities. We can get away with it once in a while, but sometimes, like against Indiana, we get punched in the face. It is our response to these blows that will determine not only our team, but our success in the future. »
For Al Horford, the 2022 finalists cannot afford to approach the meetings with lightness, because they are expected by their opponents. Ja Morant, who only distrusts Boston, said it very well.
“Our efforts should never be questioned,” warns the interior. “Against Indiana, our efforts weren’t there from the start of the game. We know it, this season, each team is going to get into us. We have to match the opposing intensity. We did it at the start of the season, but it’s been harder for two weeks. We have to go through this and we will learn from all of this. In the long term, our group will be better because of it. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jayson Tatum | 30 | 37.2 | 47.2 | 35.8 | 86.0 | 1.2 | 6.9 | 8.1 | 4.1 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 30.6 |
| Jaylen Brown | 30 | 35.8 | 49.0 | 33.5 | 81.4 | 1.2 | 6.4 | 7.5 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 26.2 |
| Malcolm Brogdon | 27 | 24.1 | 48.2 | 45.1 | 85.5 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 14.0 |
| Marcus Smart | 28 | 33.2 | 43.1 | 34.0 | 77.4 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 7.3 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 11.8 |
| Al Horford | 23 | 30.8 | 51.2 | 44.3 | 62.5 | 1.0 | 5.3 | 6.2 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 9.7 |
| Derrick White | 32 | 25.6 | 42.6 | 38.5 | 87.5 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 9.6 |
| Grant Williams | 31 | 28.2 | 52.6 | 43.5 | 81.8 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 9.3 |
| Robert Williams | 3 | 19.1 | 71.4 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 7.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 7.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 32 | 16.2 | 46.5 | 42.2 | 77.8 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 6.6 |
| Blake Griffin | 14 | 15.9 | 50.9 | 34.8 | 71.4 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.2 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 5.6 |
| Payton Pritchard | 19 | 11.4 | 38.6 | 34.0 | 70.0 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 4.6 |
| Luke Kornet | 27 | 13.2 | 68.6 | 33.3 | 83.3 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 4.2 |
| Mfiondu Kabengele | 1 | 8.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| noah vonleh | 19 | 8.4 | 45.8 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Jd Davison | 3 | 2.8 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| justin jackson | 12 | 5.1 | 15.4 | 18.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
