Why are the Boston Celtics struggling at home this season?
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics hung a new banner at TD Garden back in October, but the team hasn't looked like a championship bunch on their home court this season. The Celtics put up another stinker in front of their home fans on Thursday night, losing 127-120 to an undermanned Dallas Mavericks team.
Thursday night was no NBA Finals rematch in Boston, since Luka Doncic is now in Los Angeles. The Mavs didn't even have new addition Anthony Davis, who isn't making his Dallas debut until this weekend, and were also without regulars Dereck Lively II and P.J. Washington.
It appears once news of all those DNPs reached the Celtics, they decided to coast. Again. It led to yet another disappointing loss on the TD Garden floor.
The Celtics have now lost three of their last five games at home and six of their last 11. So you can understand why green teamers were miffed as the team fell behind by as many as 24 points in the second half. Boston led for just 13 seconds against the Mavs, and it was in the opening minute of the tilt.
It was just another disappointing night at TD Garden for the defending champs, which has become an unfortunate trend for the Celtics..
Celtics lost to Mavs because of their defense
Focus and effort were the big issues for Boston right from the jump Thursday night. The Celtics turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter, including two each by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. It let the Mavericks gain early momentum, which they didn't cede until Joe Mazzulla benched his starters with 9:35 left in the game.
Boston's 14 turnovers on the night were a product of the team's lack of focus. But the Celtics were smoked on defense because of their lack of effort.
The Celtics were lethargic and slow on defense all night, and gave Dallas shooters little resistance when getting to their spots. Klay Thompson erupted for 10 points in the first quarter and dropped 25 on Boston for the night, hitting 11 of his 17 shots for his best game in a Dallas uniform. The Mavericks scored 67 points in the first half, knocking down 58.3 percent of their shots overall and 41.2 percent from three.
Usually when the Celtics are hitting their shots from downtown, the team wins. Boston hit half of its threes in the first half, going 9-of-18, and 43.2 percent for the night.
But the Celtics let the Mavs do just about whatever they wanted on the offensive end, and Dallas shot a blistering 55.7 percent overall and 45.5 percent from three-point land. Kyrie Irving scored 19 on his former team, while Dante Exum scored 15 points off 4-of-6 shooting from three.
Spencer Dinwiddie feasted on Boston's disjointed defense, hitting seven of his 10 shots (going 3-of-5 from three) for 22 points off the bench. Naji Marshall put in 20 points over his 29 minutes, as he hit nine of his 15 shots. Dallas newcomer Max Christie fit right in with his new team, adding 15 points off the pine.
Defense is all about effort. Celtics fans saw none of that on Thursday night, and players were hit with a smattering of boos as they walked off the floor down 21 points at the end of the third quarter.
"Defensively, we haven't been as strong as we need to be," Brown said after the loss. "Part of that is on me as a captain. But we've just got to be better to close the break, and then reassess to start the second half of the season."
Boston Celtics home struggles
Maybe the Celtics are just in a lull before the All-Star break, as Brown alluded to. But that doesn't explain why they're such a good team on the road -- an NBA-best 20-6 -- and so mid in their own building.
Thursday night's loss followed a strong road trip by the Celtics, which is another developing trend this season. Thursday night marked the fourth time this season the Celtics have returned from a road trip of at least three games and lost their first game back on their home court.
Boston went 3-1 on its first extended road trip of the season, only to return home and lose a much-anticipated battle with Steve Kerr and the Warriors. The Celtics went 3-1 on their first Western Conference road trip of the season, and then returned home to lay an egg against the Sacramento Kings. After another 3-1 trip through the West, they blew a fourth-quarter lead to the Houston Rockets when they got back to TD Garden.
Thursday's loss followed a 3-0 trip that concluded with a solid win against the top-seeded Cavaliers in their house. But any momentum from that victory was left in Cleveland, as the Celtics were embarrassed by a Mavs team playing without three of its starters.
For whatever reason, the Celtics' home cooking has been nearly inedible the last few months. They've been much more prone to take their foot off the gas at home than on the road, sporting a 111.8 defensive rating at TD Garden (10th in the NBA) and a 108.2 defensive rating (second in the NBA) away from it.
"That's something we've got to fix," said Payton Pritchard, who scored 21 points off the Boston bench. "I don't know if it's just like the effort side of things or something. They played good basketball."
The Celtics were 37-4 at home last season and 32-9 the season before. They are just 16-10 at TD Garden this season, losing games to the likes of the Bulls, the 76ers (in blowout fashion on Christmas Day), and twice to the Hawks.
A midseason malaise isn't uncommon for a defending champ. The Celtics are playing with a giant target on their backs and get an opponent's best effort every night. It's a struggle to match that intensity over an 82-game season, especially in these middle months of the season.
It should also be noted that the Celtics were 7-1 on the road in the playoffs last season en route to their title. But losing at home makes life a lot harder for a team trying to add another banner, and a lot more frustrating to the fans that go out to see them in action.
It'd be nice if the Celtics can reverse this trend and get back to their home dominance ahead of the postseason.
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Indianapolis Star
40 minutes ago
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He was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, hitting his most 3s since he made five in his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound triple-double in the Pacers' win over the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. But he didn't just look for his own offense. He helped get fellow All-Star Pascal Siakam started early as Siakam scored the Pacers first six points en route to a 21-point night. Haliburton still got center Myles Turner involved with pick-and-roll and pick and pop actions even though the Pacers tried not to live off those as much. He made plays "off the pitch," using give-and-go actions with bigs operating near the top of the key with their back to the basket catching his passes and tossing them right back to him and that got Haliburton downhill momentum that he could use to either go to the rim or pass and it helped keep the Thunder from loading up their defense quickly. The Pacers managed 41 field goal attempts in the paint after taking just 27 in Game 2. 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"I think there's going to be ebbs and flows," Haliburton said. "I'm never going to be, you know, super great and shoot so many shots every game consistently. There's going to be games where I don't and I've got to be able to find the right balance between the two. But I mean, I think experience is the best way I can learn from it. So seeing where I can be better is important through the first two games and just trying to be better today. You know, taking what the defense gives me, trying to play the right way and watch film and see where I can get better and be ready to go for Game 4." Haliburton has a lot of voices telling him he needs to shoot more. His personal trainer, Drew Hanlen, is particularly explicit about it, and Haliburton acknowledges that he sees plenty of examples of himself passing out on shots he should take and make in the course of a game. But part of that is a product of focus on making the textbook right play and keeping in mind the importance of involving his teammates. In turn, they trust his judgment. "Ty's got to do him," Siakam said. "That's what he's got to do, he's got to be himself every time he's out on the floor. He can impact the game in so many ways. So I'm really not worried about his scoring. I just know that he's going to make the right play. But when he's intentional about doing that every single play, I know something good is going to happen. So as long as he keeps doing that, we're going to be all right."
Fox Sports
an hour ago
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McConnell, Mathurin lead Pacers' bench charge in Game 3, fueling 2-1 NBA Finals lead over Thunder
Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — TJ McConnell stole inbounds passes not once, not twice, but three times in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. He waved his arms, pumped his fists and shouted at an already delirious crowd to make more noise. Bennedict Mathurin made just about every shot, calm and cool, always coming up with the bucket that Indiana needed. Separately, they couldn't seem more different. Together, they were a two-man bench wrecking crew for the Pacers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals — two of the biggest reasons why Indiana has a 2-1 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the title series. McConnell became the first reserve in finals history to have five assists and five steals in a game. Mathurin — who couldn't play in Indiana's playoff run last year because of a shoulder injury — scored 27 points, the most by a reserve in a finals game in 14 years. Sure, Tyrese Haliburton nearly had a triple-double and Pascal Siakam scored 21 points and Myles Turner battled through illness to have a pair of huge blocks late in Indiana's 116-107 victory Wednesday night, but McConnell and Mathurin were the story. 'Just getting a win in general in the playoffs and in the finals, it's really hard," McConnell said. 'So, obviously, happy about this one, but have to move on. Have to still correct some stuff and make some adjustments.' Game 4 is Friday night. And McConnell was looking ahead to Friday almost immediately after Wednesday night's game ended. Haliburton says McConnell is like a big brother to him, always knowing what needs to be done, always knowing what needs to be said. He delivered on both counts in Game 3. 'He does a great job of giving us energy plays consistently and getting downhill and operating. I mean, nobody operates on the baseline like that guy,' Haliburton said. 'I thought did he a great job of consistently getting there and making hustle play after hustle play, and sticking with it, and I thought we did a great job of just feeding off of what he was doing.' McConnell was the scrappy energy. Mathurin, he was just smooth. Before Mathurin did it in Game 3, the last player who scored 27 points off the bench in a finals game was Jason Terry for Dallas in 2011 — doing so in the Game 6 title-clinching win over Miami. The coach of that Mavs team: Rick Carlisle. The coach of this Pacers team: Rick Carlisle. And when it was all over Wednesday, Carlisle told the story of how Mathurin — after getting his shoulder surgically repaired last spring — got one of those calendars that counted down the number of days he had to wait before being cleared to play again. It was in the Pacers' training room and part of Mathurin's routine was to tear off a page each day. 'He was counting the days down to being cleared sometime in August and then be able to begin training camp, begin 5-on-5 with our guys in September and then be in training camp, really, with his eyes firmly set on an opportunity in the playoffs,' Carlisle said. 'And so, he's putting a lot of work to be ready for these moments.' Mathurin said he learned a lot as well from just watching last year's playoff run, when Indiana made the East finals. 'Just being on the bench and being next to the coaches who were able to run me through the game and stuff like that ... I was fortunate enough to learn a lot and be ready for this year,' Mathurin said. Mathurin has had four 20-point games in these playoffs. The Thunder knew he had the capability. 'He seems to have a game like this in every series. He's a talented player,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'He was really aggressive. He did a great job. McConnell did a great job. Their bench really came in the game and was excellent.' ___ AP NBA: recommended
