The Celtics aren’t playing their best basketball as that’s showing itself in real-time. The reigning champs have hit a tough stretch for the first time this season, losing four of their last six games. The latest data point is a 123-114 loss to the Pacers on Sunday in one of their worst defensive games of the year.
Derrick White acknowledged those struggles. There’s no panic considering it’s still December and the C’s aren’t at the halfway point of their season yet at 23-9. But White made a good point: the regular season is about creating habits and those haven’t been up to their standards recently. He also put the Celtics’ recent issues in perspective postgame.
“This might be the toughest stretch that I’ve been on since I’ve been here on the Celtics,” White told reporters. “So it’s just gonna just bring us closer together. Just gotta know that everybody’s got their best interest in mind and just have each other’s back. And so I just think it’s gonna bring us closer.”
Four losses in six games, in the grand scheme of an 82-game season, isn’t a massive red flag. Teams across the league have these stretches, and much worse, all the time. So it’s more a reflection of how successful the Celtics have been since they traded for White back in February 2022.
Now, in looking back, the C’s have had similar tough stretches than present day, but there aren’t many. Back in December 2022, after starting the season 21-5, the C’s lost five of their next six games. They also lost four out of six in March 2023. Regardless of specific results during the White era in Boston, there aren’t any big losing streaks. That’s a testament to the organization’s consistency over the years, which led to reaching the mountaintop in 2024.
But all that’s in the past — the Celtics are only concerned with how they fix their issues. The defense wasn’t good enough against the Pacers, allowing 66 points in the paint. C’s coach Joe Mazzulla often talks about the process of being great; his team hasn’t had a good work in stacking those positives.
Fortunately, as the Celtics always say, there’s always another game to look forward to. The C’s host the struggling Raptors at 3 p.m. Tuesday for a chance at a get-right game. Then January will be a tough month for the Celtics between travel and quality of opponents. The Celtics have earned the benefit of the doubt as reigning champs, but it doesn’t change how they know they have some fixable issues going forward.
“We have the humility because we’ve been through it,” Jayson Tatum said. “We’ve been through times and there’s parts of the season where we took it for granted and I think we’ve learned from that. But I think we’re just at a point in the season where we’re not happy where we’re at and we all have to understand that we’ve played a part in where we’re at right now.”
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