The Celtics (20-21 overall, 12-7 home) are in a really dark place right now as the losses continue to pile up. The scary part is there seems to be no end in sight as they can't find a way to beat some of the worst teams in the NBA. Tonight at the TD Garden, on a day when head coach Brad Stevens had to fend off more rumors that he's going to bolt to be the head coach at Indiana University any second now, his team once again came out flat and had to pay for it as they fell 107-96 to the Kings (17-24 overall, 8-12 away). Sacramento swept the two-game season series and you have to wonder what it will take to get through to these Celtics? This is simply not acceptable and no matter what the team's flaws are, they should not be in eighth-place in the Eastern Conference and a game under .500 this far into the season.
The Kings are in 11th place in the Western Conference but they looked like a playoff team the two times that they've met the Celts in this doomed campaign. Sacramento point guard De'Aaron Fox (game-high 29 points, 5 assists, 2 steals) was the best player on the court and he was followed closely by center Richaun Holmes (25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals) who put together one of his best games as a pro. Small forward Harrison Barnes (15 points, 13 rebounds) another rumored trade target for the C's probably doesn't even want to come here at this juncture. Finally, shooting guard Buddy Hield (22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) added his requisite solid outing whenever he plays the Celtics.
Shooting guard Jaylen Brown (19 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals) led the C's in scoring despite not even reaching 20 points. Point guard Kemba Walker added 16 points and seven assists while swingman Jayson Tatum (15 points, 7 rebounds) is playing like he's still battling Covid-19 (and I don't say that to make light of the situation, only to point out how bad he's been lately for him). Center Daniel Theis put up 14 points and eight rebounds while center Robert Williams (12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks) continues to be one of the only bright spots for this underachieving group.
If it's a big game and or one that they should win, you can bet that the Celtics will probably get off to a poor start. The Kings outscored them 28-22 in the first quarter and it was 55-45 Sacramento at halftime. Boston's one real push came in the third quarter as they took that 36-27 but nobody will ever remember that since they closed with a whimper (25-15 Kings in the 4th quarter). Gross. Sacramento shot 2.8% better from the field (45.7%-42.9%) than Boston, they attempted 19 more free throws (26-7) and hit 15 more of them (21-6) which is really hard to do in the NBA on the road. The Kings also blocked more than twice (9-4) as many shots as the Celtics.
The C's will try to snap this three-game losing streak on Sunday afternoon (3:30, NBC Sports Boston) as they host another non-playoff team-the Magic (14-27 overall, 5-14 road). Boston has three games between now and Thursday-the NBA Trade Deadline. Not for the sake of this season but at least for the future, I have to hope that GM Danny Ainge will do something to improve this painfully mismatched team. Tatum and Brown are too good to be having such a mediocre season, maybe bring in a veteran leader that they can lean on? Otherwise, what are we doing here? A small number of fans will be able to return to the Garden a week from Monday but honestly, who wants to watch these losers in the middle of a pandemic? Talk about wasting your money, you can definitely find a better activity than that without even trying that hard.
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