Getting Blown Out By The Pistons Was A Nice Reminder Of What Can Happen When The Celtics Play Like Assholes

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And just like that, in a battle of two of the longest current winning streaks in the league (7 vs 6), it is the Pistons that walk away with theirs still intact. A tough one to drop on the second night of a back to back without Jaylen Brown, but make no mistake, the Pistons earned every bit of that ass kicking. Usually winning streaks tend to end with some sort of brutal disgusting blowout loss, so in some ways a game like this isn't all that surprising, especially with how the Pistons have been playing.

And while you'd have to legitimately be on crack as a Celt fan to even lost a second of sleep over something like this or think this loss is some sort of glaring red flag after they had just won 10 of 11 and hadn't lost on the road in a month, let's also be totally honest in regards to this blowout ass kicking.

The quality of basketball that was played by the Celts was in no way shape or form close to being good enough. Losing basketball like you read about. They were unable to match the intensity and energy from the Pistons, who right from the opening tip were the aggressors. All night it felt like the Celts were reactionary, as it was the Pistons that played with force and imposed their will. Some may say this is to be expected on the second night of a back to back with a team that's fired up at home, and while I somewhat agree with that, I would also like to point out that a lot of the issues came from players who did not play on Tuesday night against TOR.

Sometimes, you just get your ass beat. Sometimes, the other team outplays you. Shit happens over the course of 82, but that doesn't mean you should completely let the Celts off the hook for the performance they put up last night. They are much better than how they played, even without Jaylen Brown.

I don't think this was really a case of the Celts overlooking their opponent or any of the bad habits that have gotten them in trouble in the past. They had won 12 straight against DET and all 3 this year weren't all that close. I just think the Pistons came ready to play and the Celts were unable to match their intensity and more importantly, their execution. 

With that said, let's dive in

The Good

- While the majority of the roster was a bit of a no show, that was not true for everyone. For example, I thought the performance from Jayson Tatum was more than good enough in a game like this from your best player. For the second straight game there was some annoying ball security issues (more on this later), but outside of that? I have little complaints with how Tatum played. He was efficient, he was productive, he gave enough

With Jaylen out, Tatum's role had to be adjusted slightly. Over the previous 3 games we've seen much more of a facilitator version of Tatum. Last night given the offensive production that was missing, it was more important for Tatum to assume the role of a scorer first, which he responded to with 10-19 (4-7) showing. That switch helps explain why his AST numbers may feel a little low, as he only had 6 total potential assists as well. 

But to me, this is not a negative. It shows you that Tatum has the ability to shift and mold his game to whatever the team needs at that moment. If that's to be a primary scorer and be aggressive shooting the ball? He can do it and he can be efficient with it even with worse spacing since Jaylen's gravity is not there for defenses to worry about. If he needs to be a facilitator like we saw in the previous 3 games where he had 30 AST? He can do it at an elite level. 

Not to mention, things only really got out of hand once Tatum went to the bench down 10 entering the 4th quarter. He had nothing to do with the first few minutes of that 4th quarter where the Celts couldn't stop turning the ball over and the lead immediately ballooned to 19, so to me, Tatum gave them enough to win which in this position is all I could ask for.

- I'd say the same thing about Derrick White. Like Tatum, he was efficient (6-12, 5-10), he showed up on both ends filled his role about as well as he possibly could

Ever since he snapped out of his slump, Derrick has gone right back to being his same consistent self which in my eyes, means more big picture than the result of this game does. I think it matters that he was still able to be successful even while going up against a physical defense. That's how teams are going to try and knock the Celts off, be tough, be physical, force the refs to call everything which we all know they won't.

In those types of games, being able to still produce at an efficient clip from 3 is important. In a game where someone in the starting group was going to have to elevate their play to help cover or missing Jaylen's offense, Derrick White stepped up. So just like Tatum, I have little to no issues with his performance (outside of an inability to throw an entry pass)

- And finally, the same is true for Payton Pritchard. The only bench player to play with a pulse, this game looks even worse had he not been extremely efficient (6-10, 5-8) off the bench

A player that has torched the Pistons all season, this game was no exception. It's also nice to see Pritchard get back to his old ways and out of his little mini-slump, as he had been shooting just 31.4% from deep on 10 3PA a game in his previous 5 games heading into last night. 

But in a game where the overall energy/intensity was a bit lacking, I never felt that way with Pritchard. That man plays balls to the wall every second he's on the floor, which I will always respect about him. You never, ever, have to worry about Pritchard's focus/energy etc. He plays every single game as if it's Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and just like Tatum and White, I felt like Pritchard did his job in a game like this. No complaints.

- That's it though. Outside of those 3, pretty much everything else was gross. Let's move on.

The Bad

- When the Celts beat the Raptors, in that blog I talked about how despite holding TOR to just 101 points, I didn't feel like the defense was all that great. The were destroyed in the paint and at the rim, and while you heard a lot about how that was due to not having 3 of your top 4 big men available, to me that missed the mark. It wasn't a big man issue, it was a perimeter defense issue. There wasn't any. When you provide zero perimeter resistance, it doesn't matter what your frontcourt situation is. You're going to get dominated in the paint/at the rim.

This game was a perfect example of what I mean. They got KP and Al back so in theory they should have been able to shut off the paint/rim production right? Wrong. It was even worse. The Pistons finished with 62 points in the paint on 31-47 shooting (65%). If it felt familiar, it's because during their slump we saw a very similar trend. Guys were not providing resistance on the perimeter. If you're not going to guard your yard, everything falls apart. 

Against TOR, it was possession after possession of guys like Sam Hauser being attacked off the dribble. Last night? Same problem, only it spread

I'm sorry, but shit like this is nowhere close to good enough or an acceptable level of perimeter defense. This is sort of what I mean when I say the Celts were reactionary all night. How many times did we see them allow a Pistons player to get a runway to the rim? What, now the Celts can't guard a simple high ball screen? Get out of my face with that. 

What do we saw all the time? If you don't defend, nothing else matters. I'm not sure there's a better example of that than this loss. 

In a game where the Celts make 21 3PM and shoot over 40%, they are something insane like 41-1. You should never lose a game in which you are that productive from behind the line. So what happened? Clips like you saw above. Zero resistance defensively, not finishing defensive possessions cleanly and allowing OREB/2nd chance points, FTs etc. 

And again, guys like Jrue, Al, KP all did not play against TOR. Poor defense like this is how you give a team confidence, it's how you get the crowd into it and momentum swings. 

- The Celts insane 3pt shooting in the 2nd quarter quickly erased a 15 point lead and got things tied into halftime, but that was misleading. It was mostly just cologne that covered up a dogshit performance. The Celts weren't playing well, they were making shots. Their offensive process wasn't all that great, guys just buried shots. Defensively the holes still existed, and it's exactly why once we got to the 3rd quarter the Pistons immediately rebuilt their lead. Once the insane shotmaking from the Celts went away, we got the same type of result that made up 95% of the game. 

- He has to be sick as shit because this was easily the worst KP showing of his season. He's been so good and so consistent that it's mostly whatever, but this was about as clear a disasterclass from him as you can get. Nothing offensively, couldn't guard in space, was nonexistent in terms of rim protection, and he had just 2 rebounds in 25 minutes while being a team worst -24.

What I love about KP though is he is ALWAYS accountable when he plays like shit. He owns it, he tells the truth, and he almost always immediately responds

When it got to the point where KP wasn't even trying to attempt to contest shots at the rim, that's what told me his conditioning had to be awful and his illness was probably playing a factor. As the game went on he got worse, which is typically not what happens, especially when it comes to contesting plays at the rim. My guess is he'll have a great bounce back performance tomorrow night, but this loss was as gross as it gets for him.

- So much is made about the Celts 3pt volume, especially when they lose, and whenever I hear people go off about that shit after a loss like this it tells me they either aren't watching or don't understand what they are seeing. They point to the Celtics taking 49 of their 80 FGA from deep (despite shooting 42.9%) and cry about 3pt volume like morons.

The real culprit? Death by 2pt FG production, again.

To me, this is where Jaylen was truly missed. With KP post ups being removed from the equation, the Celts inability to finish at an acceptable level from 2pt was as big a culprit in this loss as anything else. 6-17 in the paint? 2-8 from midrange? I mean have some shame.

A lot of that was KP, as he was just 2-8 inside the paint, but we also saw Walsh miss some bunnies, Jrue miss close etc. You simply cannot be this poor in the paint on one end, and then provide zero resistance in the paint on the other. 

- After being so good around the margins over the last month, this loss was a step in the opposite direction. To start, 17 TOs is completely unacceptable. That is exactly how you get yourself into this position. Not only are you allowing the Pistons to score off easy transition baskets, but you're also losing ground in the shot margins. The Pistons score 24 points off those 17 TOs, do we think that was important?

Tatum was again way too careless with the basketball, totalling 4 TOs, all of which were pretty gross

Coming off his 6 TOs against the Raptors where a lot of them looked exactly like these clips, 10 TOs in 2 games is something that cannot happen. Tatum is too good and too important to be this careless. He has the ball more than anyone, and with that comes a responsibility to take care of it. 

Given that turnovers haven't really been a problem for Tatum this season, that's what makes these last two games so annoying. Careless dribbling, throwing passes into traffic, he needs to figure that shit out because if it happens tomorrow, the Cavs will win by 30.

The thing is, it wasn't just a Tatum problem. This team STILL cannot throw an entry pass to save their lives, and Derrick White might be the biggest culprit of them all

I swear we get around 2 or 3 of these types of turnovers a game. It's been that way all season and frankly, my brain cannot process as to how this specific pass is this much of a problem. I watch a lot of NBA basketball and I can say with certainty no team in the league turns the ball over on entry passes more than the Boston Celtics. Make it make sense. These are their best players making this pass! Figure it out!

And then to make matters worse, with Tatum on the bench to open the 4th quarter, the Celtics turned it over 3 straight times to open the frame. 

I mean what are we doing here? 

When you are this careless with the basketball, the Basketball Gods will always make you pay. That's just how it goes.

- Turnovers were just part of the issue around the margins though. Celts also sucked at the FT line, allowed 14 OREB for 15 2nd chance points, got CRUSHED in fastbreak points 26-9, and the entire bench outside of Pritchard did nothing but provide cardio in their minutes. 

You add all that up, and that's how you get blown out despite hitting 21 3s at a good clip.

The Ugly

- For a guy coming off rest, I did not expect a 2-10 (0-5) with 3 TO performance from Jrue Holiday. I can live with the shooting issues as long as you defend and take care of the ball, and he did neither. As someone who had been playing better as of late, this certainly was a game he'll most likely want to forget, and it's not even an age thing in my opinion. He just played like shit. 

As we know, Jrue's importance comes in a few months, but in the meantime we at least need to have passable performances from him to close out the regular season. You have to be playable, especially when a guy like Jaylen is out. What you can't have are nights where he gives you nothing on either end, and then is also careless with the basketball. He's too good to play that poorly in my opinion.

- Right next to Jrue on the disasterclass list is Neemias Queta. I don't think the Celts stopped a single P&R when he was on the floor, his general court awareness was pretty awful, he finished with just 1 rebounds in 11 minutes and certainly did not cover for the absence of Luke Kornet. Shit like this was what the Pistons could get whenever they wanted

To be fair, Horford was just as much of a disaster in P&R in this loss, but at least he was able to provide some timely 3s. Queta, didn't do anything. And while you always have to remember this is the 4th big on the roster, that doesn't mean he gets a pass for being a disaster. Be playable, that's the bar. 

- I think we all saw why Xavier Tillman is not in the rotation. I have no idea what the hell happened to him, but his dropoff is insane. Another 2 TOs in just 5 minutes, for a guy who barely plays he has a 17.7% TOV% on the season, which is outrageous. We'll all be forever grateful for that Game 3 performance in the Finals, but we're at the point now where he's not even playable in blowouts. That's crazy for a guy who looked decent enough in his minutes last season. 

So at the end of the day? Take this loss on the chin, flush the game, and be ready for the big showdown tomorrow night. Sometimes you get caught over the course of 82, and the important thing is to not let it bleed into an issue. No team in the NBA has been better responding to losses like the Celts have been, and the entire basketball world will be watching Friday night. Don't play like assholes, and you can avoid situations like this.