Kemba Walker will not be playing consecutive games anytime soon. Marcus Smart is just beginning his recovery on the court from a calf injury and Romeo Langford will not be back until after the All-Star break, as he continues to recover from wrist surgery.
Without this trio and Daniel Theis (sprained finger) in the fold, Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks shared the defense of the Celtics on their way to a 122-114 victory at TD Garden on Wednesday night. Young scored 16 of his 40 points, the game’s record, in the fourth period, while the Hawks set the season’s record 57.1 percent on the field against a low-team Celtics, knocking Boston’s record to 14- 14 in the year.
The Celtics currently tie with Pacers for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, but are closer to the Bulls in ninth place (1.5 games ahead) than Bucks in third place (two games ago) while the mountain season -Russian continues. Jaylen Brown knows it hasn’t been pretty, as the team has lost 11 of their last 17 games in total and vented about it after Wednesday’s defeat.
“I think we won a lot of games and played a lot against some good teams and against some who didn’t, but we just need to find some consistency,” explained Brown. “I know it’s probably hard to watch, shit, it’s hard to play, but I think there’s a lot to learn and improve to move towards the future.”
The inconsistency of the supporting cast began to affect the Boston stars as the team limped toward the All-Star break. While Jayson Tatum exploded 35 points against Atlanta, Brown struggled with his offensive, going just 6 out of 20 from the field against a below average Hawks defense in the second half of the year.
With no consistent offensive breeders on the ground besides Payton Pritchard (11 points) available for Boston on Wednesday night, the Celtics once again lacked the firepower to match a high-powered Hawks offensive, even with two likely All-Stars do not line up. Boston’s energy seemed weak on both ends for long periods, as they finished their fifth game in seven nights.
“I mean, a lot of consecutive games this week, and just trying to do all the games and come with the same intensity and tenacity,” said Brown. “Tonight, we were a little slow, I was a little slow in the transfer type.
“And this is just this year’s challenge, you know, and we are all trying to embrace that challenge with the ups and downs and not make excuses because everyone is going through the same thing. So we just have to keep fighting and improving. Ultimately, too, things will start to accelerate. “
With only eight games remaining until the All-Star break, some rest and potential reinforcements are in sight. Walker must also lose another game due to a consecutive sequence in the schedule and it is possible that Smart could return before the break also if his recovery goes well. Until then, the growing pains will continue for an incompatible squad that lacks healthy wing depth and experience at the moment, as the front line evaluates possible commercial updates. For now, Brown just hopes that bumps along the way can be a long-term learning experience.
“It’s definitely difficult,” said Brown last month. “But, of course, we want to win every game. But I definitely think we learned, I learned a lot from my losses and things like that. Still, areas of growth that I think would benefit in the long run and things like that. Teams protecting us in different ways and putting a lot of pressure to handle more attention, without receiving calls. I think that’s part of the challenge in the process of growing what we asked for. So yes, it is difficult to go up and down. But I still think there is a lot to learn and we have learned a lot. “