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LOS ANGELES—It should be easy to ignore the Celtics’ defensive blunders down the stretch against Houston on Monday. Bad games and bad moments happen to every team a few times a season. Boston was showering in champagne last June, so it’s tempting to write this game and their recent “slump” off as a simple mid-season malaise.
Except poor late-game execution is not just a one-game thing for Boston. Or two games.
Monday night was the ninth time this season the Celtics had a fourth-quarter lead — this time it was a dozen points against the Rockets — and found a way to lose. That equals the number of blown fourth quarter leads Boston had all of last season, and we’re just over halfway through this season. Monday was the seventh time this season Boston has blown a double-digit lead. And none of that counts games Boston hung on to win despite late-game struggles.
“We got clean some things up, but just our will to win, we will to figure it out,” All-Star Jayson Tatum said last week after his team almost blew a late lead against the Clippers and had to win in overtime. “I’d rather learn from a win and learn from a loss, for sure.”
Boston didn’t learn much from that win, based on what we saw Monday. The Celtics had two ugly defensive lapses in the final seconds against the Rockets. The first was Luke Kornet losing Alperen Sengun for a dunk to give Houston the lead.
Tatum tied the game up again with a driving layup, but on the final play of the night Kornet and Jaylen Brown decided to pre-switch but did so after Fred VanVleet was handed the ball, which left Amen Thompson wide open and guarded now by an out-of-position Brown. Thompson has quickly become too good to give him that, he hit the game-winner.
It’s not just this one game, or just games the Celtics lose, where their end-of-game execution is a concern. Last week against the Clippers Boston led by six with 1:03 remaining in regulation. In that final minute, the Celtics had two turnovers due to a trapping defense, and one missed shot while the Clippers — playing without James Harden, Norm Powell, Kawhi Leonard or Ivica Zubac — made enough plays to force…
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Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2025-01-28 18:39:00
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