BOSTON — While the Celtics of late haven’t gotten booed by their home crowd, that changed in Friday’s loss to the Kings. The C’s entered the fourth quarter tied with the Kings, but the visitors quickly sprinted out to a lead.
Sensing the lack of effort, the TD Garden crowd was dissatisfied with the reigning champs. So, on a few occasions, the Boston faithful let the Celtics know their play wasn’t good enough in the form of boos and jeers. Kristaps Porzingis postgame had a candid acceptance of the situation.
“Honestly, I like it,” Porzingis said. “It’s kind of deserved. They expect high level from us, high level based off our talent and what we’ve shown in the past. … I think when we’re not giving our all, I think that’s the most deserved boos. So it’s normal and that’s just a sign of them wanting us to bring up our level, bring up our energy. And we have to respond to that.”
The first instance of the dissatisfaction came early in the fourth quarter. Malik Monk had a wide-open 3-pointer nobody from the C’s contested. Fortunately for them, he missed. But, unfortunately this time, the long rebound went out to Domantas Sabonis for one of his 28 rebounds on the night. After Sabonis got the rebound, the Celtics defenders backed up … letting him shoot his own wide-open 3. That one went in; the Celtics crowd responded accordingly. Here’s a look at the play.
Then a couple game minutes later, with the Celtics down 14 points, the boos came out again. Eventually, the C’s waved their white flag with a couple minutes left as they subbed out their starters to put in the bench players. It’s another tough data point for the reigning champs as their recent slump continued as they’re now 8-7 over their last 15 games.
The home woes are also another story. The Celtics went an impressive 37-4 at the Garden last season, but they’re just 13-7 at home this season. Not only that: The Celtics are just 3-5 at home over their last eight home games. So it was no surprise to see portions of the crowd leave the latest loss early.
The season’s long and there’s plenty of time for the Celtics to bounce back. If they’re playing their best ball in April and beyond, struggles from December and January won’t blip on the radar. But the reality is the C’s have struggled of late as their inconsistencies game-to-game have plagued them.
“I don’t know if we came out flat, but we just played flat the whole game a little bit,” Porzingis said. “Not a good game for us. It is what it is. They’re supposed to hurt, like it is. Silent in the locker room, like it’s supposed to be. And then back to work tomorrow.”
- BETTING: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
