The Celtics knew this six-game road trip – with several beatable opponents – was important as they try to build good habits and fix some of their glaring issues as the playoffs loom.
But if Saturday’s win over the Hawks was an encouraging sign, Monday was a major step in the opposite direction.
The Celtics have suffered some puzzling losses to inferior opponents this season and Monday’s defeat is easily among the worst of the season, especially at this stage of the year. The C’s didn’t start the night with the right energy and their bad habits and deficiencies were on display in ugly fashion in a costly, inexcusable 111-109 loss to the Houston Rockets, who are dead last in the Western Conference with 52 losses and already officially eliminated from the playoff picture, and who the Celtics pummeled by 24 back in December.
Forget the No. 1 seed. At this rate, the Celtics will be fighting over their final 13 games just to maintain the No. 2 seed, which they lead by just one game over the 76ers.
Jaylen Brown scored 43 points, and it would have been worse without him. The Celtics trailed by 11 with less than five minutes to go and fought back, but couldn’t complete the comeback. Down two with seven seconds left, Joe Mazzulla drew up a play and put the ball in Jayson Tatum’s hands, but the Celtics star missed a layup at the buzzer to seal the loss.
The Celtics were atrocious from 3-point range, finishing 12-for-42 and 28.9 percent from deep. They fell to 11-17 this season when they shoot less than 35 percent from long range. But, Mazzulla was focused on the margins that continue to cost the Celtics games.
The Celtics were once again out-hustled on the glass, where they gave up 15 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points to the young and athletic Rockets. They were beaten at the free-throw line. And they coughed up 13 turnovers, including four each from Tatum and Marcus Smart.
“Those are concerning, the margins,” Mazzulla told reporters in Houston. “That’s playoff basketball at its finest, is the ability to win those situations, so it’s concerning that we’re inconsistent in that. We have to be committed to those regardless of who we’re playing, regardless of the situation, regardless of how many games are left. It doesn’t matter. You have to be committed to those.”
