The Celtics are in a slump — and their biggest issue is surprising

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Struggle, in the NBA, is relative. Given the chance to swap their troubles for the ones facing the Boston Celtics — the defending NBA champions, the winningest team in the association over the last half-decade, the owners of the NBA’s third-best record and net rating heading into Friday’s matchup with the Magic — you’d imagine that just about every team in the league, save maybe Cleveland and Oklahoma City, would take the trade without a second thought.

But while teams (and fanbases) might experience struggle on a sliding scale, the same goes for success. After steamrolling through the regular season and playoffs en route to Banner 18, the standard in Boston is sky high; over the last month, the C’s haven’t consistently met it.

Joe Mazzulla says its a great compliment to have the media grill him and the Celtics postgame despite improving to 28-11 with a win tonight

“It sounds like a morgue in here. And that’s how it should be.”

— Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) January 13, 2025

After starting their title defense 21-5, the Celtics are now 7-7 over the last month — and one C.J. McCollum near-buzzer-beater away from being 6-8, on the franchise’s first three-game losing streak since the 2023 Eastern Conference finals. They’ve been more or less fine in the aggregate: ninth in offensive efficiency, seventh on defense, outscoring opponents by 5.2 points per 100 possessions outside of garbage time over the last month, according to Cleaning the Glass. But they’ve been more erratic, especially late in games, ranking just 24th in net rating in the fourth quarter over the past month, getting outscored by 4.8 points-per-100.

The Celtics have lost four of their last seven games in the friendly confines of TD Garden; they lost just four regular-season home games total last season. And in the last two weeks alone, they’ve suffered double-digit defeats at the hands of the Thunder (understandable!), the Kings without De’Aaron Fox (hmm, seems weird, but hey, new coach bump?) and the Raptors (wait, what?).

“We’re going through some s*** right now,” MVP candidate Jayson Tatum told reporters on…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/the-celtics-are-in-a-slump–and-their-biggest-issue-is-surprising-181729297.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-17 18:17:00

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