The Celtics lose an ‘unacceptable’ defeat against the scarce Lakers: 7 conclusions

celts

“We’re playing bad stretches of basketball and we’re not playing well.”

Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, left, looks for an opening around Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, in Boston . AP

The Celtics plodded through 48 minutes on Thursday, falling to the Lakers without LeBron James and Anthony Davis 114-105.

Here are the conclusions.

1. It’s unclear if we can officially call this the Celtics’ worst loss of the season. After all, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers beat them five days ago, and less than a month earlier, the Bucks beat them so hard that they didn’t even bother playing their starters in the second half.

But this was, without a doubt, a candidate for the worst loss of the year: a boring, start-to-finish slog against a mediocre team that lost its two stars who, by the way, also happen to be the Celtics’ main rival as a franchise . Maybe the players feel that less than the fans, which is understandable, but the fans made themselves heard with the players with well-deserved boos all night.

There is no statistic here that gives meaning and shape to Thursday’s game. The Celtics were out for their fifth game in seven nights. They weren’t facing wing defenders who should have given Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown fits. They came out deeply unfocused, as evidenced by the avalanche of turnovers at the start of the first quarter, and let Austin Reaves (32 points, seven 3-pointers) and D’Angelo Russell (16 points, 14 assists) walk all over them. Reaves and Russell are good NBA players. Most of the Lakers’ roster is made up of perfectly acceptable NBA players, and NBA players can win games, especially when they play with passion and enthusiasm.

“We don’t play as hard as they do. They played inspired,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “There were 70 minutes and 35 shots available to several guys, and the guys on the Lakers team took advantage of it, and we just didn’t play as hard as they did.”

But if the Celtics had matched that passion and hustle (heck, if they had matched that passion and hustle for a quarter or two) they probably would have salvaged a win and the tone here would have been much different.

Instead, the Celtics started February on a very sour note.

2. Mazzulla made an interesting distinction after the game when a reporter asked him if the Celtics should be embarrassed by the loss.

“I think telling another human being that they should be ashamed is very disrespectful,” Mazzulla said. “That’s how I see life. “I think saying, ‘You should be ashamed,’ is disrespectful.”

So how would you categorize it?

“We’re playing bad stretches of basketball and we’re not playing well, and tonight we were bad,” Mazzulla said. “There’s a difference between saying we’re bad at something and saying, ‘Should you be ashamed?’ I think that’s very hard. There is responsibility. We are not playing well. To me, you can’t run away from it. So are the things. It will happen. There are five teams in the NBA that finished, 72-10? That doesn’t happen very often, so you will have difficult sections. You can’t run away from that. We’re not playing good basketball right now, but telling another human being that they should be ashamed, I just don’t think is the right way to do it.

“We should all know that we didn’t play well tonight. It is a fact.”

Frankly, for our part, we would consider that a fair distinction, and we have been guilty of calling the Celtics’ performances “embarrassing” in the past. That’s a term we’ll probably avoid using in the future, because it’s not particularly descriptive and because it tells someone else how they should feel.

The Celtics were clearly unfocused and, to use Mazzulla’s words, their performance was unacceptable.

They are aware.

“We take full responsibility for it,” Jaylen Brown said. “It all started with that first group. We weren’t very good tonight. We came out indifferent and that’s the NBA. You go out with that mentality and you lose and that’s what we did. “We lost.”

“We are going through a bad patch. and we just have to get over it and obviously change some things,” Jayson Tatum added. “But we have to play better.”

“I mean, I’m angry,” Mazzulla said. “But what are we going to do about it? Like I said the other night, if we hold on to this, then we won’t be ready for practice on Saturday and we won’t be ready for Memphis.

“So yes, I’m angry, but it’s about what you do. When you’re mad about it, I’m not going to sit there and keep thinking about it, you’re just going to figure out how to keep working.”

All of those quotes are fair and are better ways to cope with a serious loss than shame and embarrassment.

3. The Celtics turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter, which set the tone for their sloppy play for the rest of the game.

“We got off on the wrong foot and even coming into the game we knew these were really tough games,” Porzingis said. “The rest of the team is playing without pressure and these are really difficult games. “All of them can still play.”

4. Porzingis, Brown and Jrue Holiday were benched in the third quarter. Porzingis said they understood why.

“We deserved it,” he said. “Of course we were angry. We are angry with ourselves and I completely understood that. I never want to get out of the game, but I completely understood that we had to change something. “We are not playing good basketball.”

5. Jaylen Brown was 4 of 12 and scored eight points, missing all three of his three-point attempts. Tatum scored 23 points but was 8 of 21 from the field (he saved his shooting line a bit by going 5 of 10 from three).

The Celtics’ stars weren’t good enough on Thursday, and we can officially call them both stars: Brown was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star reserves before the game. He said he appreciated the recognition and support, but: “When you lose a game against the Lakers, without some of their best players, it definitely takes the edge off.”

6. Sam Hauser did his part: 17 points on 5 of 9 3-point shots and 6 of 11 overall.

7. A reporter told Mazzulla after the game that the Celtics were booed.

“I don’t care if they boo me,” Mazzulla said. “Is good for you.”

Mazzulla’s players seem to understand and respect that he wants them to get used to counterattacking. Still, Brown said he didn’t want to “sugarcoat” things as the Celtics seek accountability.

“We can all come out and say we’re excited, but this is not a good time to be in,” Brown said. “We don’t want to deal with bad habits. We want to play the game the right way. We want to protect, defend, respect our opponents and those things that you have to do night in and night out. We didn’t do that tonight from top to bottom. As the leader of this team, I take responsibility, but we have to do better.”

The Celtics have two days off before facing the Grizzlies at home on Sunday at 6 p.m.