NO GAHDEN PARTY
Kyrie Irving, whose Celtics host the Raptors tonight (TSN, 8 p.m.), called out teammates after a recent pratfall against the Magic — sometimes that’s exactly what a scuffling team needs,
BOSTON— There is no such thing as a perfectly harmonious NBA season because there are too many strong personalities in play, too many games that create too many opportunities for slumps to show up, too many moments when things can get slightly off the rails.
Good teams fight through them and survive; bad teams succumb to them and get worse. That’s how the separation in a franchise’s fortunes generally comes about.
Maybe there’s a rock-bottom moment: some spat becomes public, putting private feelings out in the open. Put 15 or so NBA players and a handful of coaches into the incubator of a season and it’s not always going to be sweetness and light.
And just because the Boston Celtics are mired in one of those moments right now doesn’t mean the season is lost or that stark change is necessary. It’s perhaps just the kind of wakeup call they need.
“You need adversity,” Raptors guard Danny Green said here Tuesday. “That comes in many types of shapes, sizes and forms: whether it’s in the locker room, whether it’s injuries, or shooting or on the court or coaching style, whatever it may be.
“There has to be some adversity to help you build that character, that chip, that mindset and that maturity for when it’s crunch time down the stretch of the season, where we’re in games and you can prepare for it.”
There’s no question that things are not going well for the Celtics right now. They’ve lost three straight games, have sunk to fifth place in the Eastern Conference, and all-star point guard Kyrie Irving publicly called out his teammates after a particularly disappointing loss Saturday in Orlando.
How the Celtics respond will be a continuing study in team dynamics. The Raptors certainly aren’t counting them out.
“I don’t think they’re struggling,” point guard Kyle Lowry said. “They’ve lost a few games, that’s about it. Everyone goes through that stretch, but they’re one of the top teams in the NBA, one of the best home teams in the NBA. Their talent is unlimited. So they’re still one of the top teams we’re going to go against.”
It has not been as bad for the Raptors in this relative dreamy season as it’s been for the Celtics over the past week or so, but there have been moments when things could have gone sideways — when a younger, less successful team may have caved to the circumstances and a season could be lost.
To Toronto’s credit, it’s never become untenable, a testimony to the maturity of the players and a coaching staff that can see slippage coming and work to correct it before it becomes crippling.
“It comes and goes, to a degree,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of the oft-discussed chemistry that good teams need. “I think some of the times and some of the conversations you have are just kind of making sure the priorities, the role (are) defined again.
“You talk about guys understanding their roles. I always think there’s a list of things that define their roles, and what order they come in is the understanding of how clearly they understand their role. Every now and then you’re going to have to say, ‘Hey, don’t forget, you’re primarily a rim protector, then you’re this …’ ”
Perhaps the most dangerous point in the Raptors’ season so far came when they were pummelled in the first game of 2019 in San Antonio. They hadn’t played really well in about a month leading up to that drubbing, and coming out of it was a test that they passed.
They haven’t lost since and carry a five-game win streak into a game here Wednesday.
“We got our ass kicked,” Green said of that Spurs game. “Best way to learn is to get your ass kicked some time and figure it out. If we don’t want to keep letting that happen — (if ) we want to play better basketball and not embarrass ourselves on national television — we have to figure out a way.”
And not implode.