At halftime, the Celtics flipped a switch. After falling behind the Pacers by as many as 30 points in the first half, Boston outscored Indiana 69-46, but ultimately fell short 117-112 to fall 0-3 on their home stand and 1-5 overall.
But at least the Celtics flipped a switch.
“I’m not really concerned in the sense that it was the first half that we really got outplayed from an effort standpoint,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said of his team’s poor start Wednesday night. “It would be concerning if we didn’t play a completely different style in the second half. We just have a choice to make: what team do we want to be?”
For most fans, the expectation was that after the team returned to TD Garden after a disappointing close to the California portion of their 4-2 road trip, some home cooking would get them out of their shooting slump and restore what was once a historic offense. Their defense was already improving and nearing the championship level standard they set last season. If Mazzulla could pair the two and seamlessly reintroduce Robert Williams back into the fray, the Celtics would be that team again that started out the season 21-5.
Just to put that into perspective, in November:
Celtics on open shots: 211-413 (51.1%)
Celtics on wide open shots: 171-358 (47.8%)— Bill Sy (@deliberatepix) December 22, 2022
That hasn’t happened. After dropping two straight to the Magic and last night’s close-but-no-cigar comeback versus the Pacers, Boston is not just a team mired in missed shots and poor execution, but one also questioning their effort and focus against teams that they should be banking wins against. But again, seemingly, they flipped a switch.
For all the handwringing over low energy, lack of physicality, and a losing streak, for all the boos that rained down from the rafters when the Celtics were piling up turnovers and missing everything around the rim, the team isn’t worried. As Malcolm Brogdon put it after his former team manhandled the Celtics in the first half, it’s more disappointment than concern.
There’s certainly a herky jerkiness to how they’ve been playing. The free-flowing, free-of-concern state of mind, freewheeling style that fueled the nine-game winning streak has been replaced by a twitchy, disjointed shadow of a team. Maybe it’s a lack of confidence. Maybe it’s the weight of expectation after such a strong start. Maybe it’s that disappointment that Brogdon is talking about compounded…
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