When you think of teams with multiple All-Stars, you think of dominance – Jazz, Lakers, Nets. The Celtics have two All-Stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but after Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks, Boston is bottom in the Atlantic Division.
Team president Danny Ainge is not ready to throw his double star under the bus, however.
“I would like to have answers for you. I don’t,” said Ainge in 98.5 The Sports Hub on Thursday. “I believe in my players. I like them all individually. I think they have a good future. I just think that now our team is in great fear.”
Funk may not be a strong enough word to describe Wednesday’s game. Coming from a painful loss to the Mavericks, the Celtics lost 13 after a quarter and 23 at halftime. They allowed a maximum of 3 points in the team’s history.
Brown had 17 points for the Celtics and missed all six attempts at 3 points. Tatum was kept with 13 points out of 4 out of 20 shots and was only 1 out of 8 long distance.
The Celtics have already lost three in a row to drop two games below 0.500. They have lost eight of 11 games overall and are out looking for the playoffs.
“Here’s what’s the biggest thing about Jaylen and Jayson,” said Ainge. “They were protected before because they had other really good, veteran players around them as they developed – and they were three out of four from the Eastern Conference [finals].
“Now it’s with them. Now they’re the stars. And they have the big contracts. And they have the All-Star nods. So the microscope is on them.”
Kemba Walker is one of those veteran All-Stars. Leaving a career year in Charlotte, Boston hired him for four years and $ 141 million before last season. He put in solid numbers and took some questions from Brown and Tatum.
This year, a knee injury limited him to 16 games. His average score is the worst in five years and he is only shooting 37.5% from the ground. The Celtics kept him out of Wednesday’s game to avoid a direct confrontation, and Boston was strangled.
As he did last week, Ainge is saying that the problems with the Celtics are more his than his young stars or coach Brad Stevens.
“This is my problem,” said Ainge. “I am saying that I love my two young men, they are not perfect and they are learning, and this adversity is part of their growth and development – unintentionally, it is just the nature of the beast.”
But Ainge said he was not trying to make excuses.
“We are playing terribly,” he said. “We don’t have a good enough team – in my opinion.”
He added that he is not looking to make a change for the sake of change, “but I am looking to do something that will make a difference in our team”.
The Celtics’ first chance to get back on track comes home Friday against a struggling Pacers team. Next up are the Wizards resurgent in the city on Sunday, ahead of the games against the Clippers, Raptors and Nets.
Bradley Beal, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden, Kyrie Irving – the Celtics will face many All-Stars and quickly find out if their team is up to it.
“I think they both consider themselves responsible,” said Ainge of Brown and Tatum. “You are talking about two hardworking children who are trying to improve. And this is a very frustrating time for them.”