Even in games they’ve won, the Boston Celtics have had issues putting together a consistent 48 minutes this season. Generally, their struggles have come in the second and third quarters, though Sunday was a bit different. Although surrendering 35 points in a quarter is far from good, the Celtics hung with the Houston Rockets in the third quarter, scoring 35 of their own. Boston then turned it up in the fourth quarter, outscoring Houston 26-15. That wasn’t enough, given the Celtics had to work back from a 22-point halftime deficit.
Last year’s Celtics team pulled off a comeback after falling behind the Rockets by 26 at halftime, but Al Horford told reporters after Sunday’s loss those results aren’t typical.
You can’t spot a team like that, that many points. I mean, I know we pulled one out of last year, but you can’t do that against these really good teams like that.
Though this isn’t something new for the Celtics, who’ve now lost five of their last six, this is the first major rut they’ve fallen into this year. Whether it’s shot selection or rotations on the defensive end, no one can seem to diagnose out the exact problem, including Horford.
Yeah, I mean I’m really not, I’m really not sure. I just think that we’ve had some good moments and right now, unfortunately, we’re going through a really bad stretch. This is when our group–we need to make sure that we stay together and even closer. Because, I know it’s hard, we’re the first ones that don’t want to lose, but we just need to continue to work because we feel like we can be better than this.
Although, when asked whether this stretch has surprised Horford, he was able to come up with a general reason.
I’m not going to say it’s surprising. Well, we didn’t expect to be in this position, but it’s one of those things that we need to work through it as a team. It’s a commitment to winning and being consistent with it. And that’s been our biggest problem: consistency on defense and offense. Sometimes we look good, sometimes not so good.
