Al believes in ‘better’ C’s
Maybe this is more in line with the decreased expectations — the sudden depression — the day after Gordon Hayward broke his ankle on opening night.
The Celtics lost for the sixth time in 11 games when they were nipped by the Washington Wizards down the stretch on Christmas at the Garden. The Celts are 11-8 since that now-faded 16-game winning streak shot them to the top of the NBA, and all sorts of old issues, as well as some anticipated new ones, have emerged.
The loss of Hayward cost the Celtics an elite playmaker and scorer, and though it was masked by the winning streak, they were going to need options to take the scoring load off Kyrie Irving. As the offense improved, their league-leading defensive rating finally slipped, to 101.0, behind NBA leader Golden State, and only a half point better than Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
In truth, the C’s play has declined on both sides of the ball. Poor rebounding, last season’s scourge, was once again a factor against the Wizards, who converted seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter into 10 second-chance points.
But Al Horford, who is a big believer in this system — it has redefined his status as a playmaking big man — insists that he sees improvement in how the Celtics are functioning. Somehow they are 11th in the league in offensive rating, for example. Yet Horford’s offensive production has slipped, especially in an area where the Celtics need some help — scoring. He has averaged 10.4 points during his past five games.
The big picture, though, is fine according to Horford.
“There’s not much difference,” Horford said. “I just think that you go through up and downs in a season. (Against Washington) I felt good about our chances. We put ourselves in a position to win the game and we weren’t able to do it. But we’re still the same team. I actually think we’re better, so . . .” Which begs a question. “How are we better? We’re 30-plus games in (37). We feel better as a group,” he said. “We know each other a little more. (Rookie Jayson) Tatum has more experience, our younger guys have more experience and we’re going to continue to get better. It’s a long season . ... I felt like we had our chances there to kind of take the game (against the Wizards), and we just didn’t take it.”
Irving, who has experienced his share of ups and downs through the years, including after LeBron James’ return to Cleveland, also is calling for calm.
“I’m just going to make it clear, guys: I know it’s going to come with a lot of questions about the difference in our team and stuff like that. To clear it all up, we’ll be fine,” Irving said. “Things happen within the NBA season where you have to collect yourselves. As professionals, it’s our job, and I know it’s your job to ask these questions for us to fix a story about this team. It happens, and for us, as a young, developing team and as one of the leaders on the team, it’s my job to be unwavering with my approach. Preparation is still the same.
“Obviously, there are some things that we can control out there that we need to become better at — offensive rebounding, making sure that we’re sticking to the game plan, and that right there falls on the responsibility of all of us. As one of the leaders on this team, I’ll continue to demand it, and I know Brad (Stevens, the C’s coach) will be continue to do that as well. It hasn’t been one of the best stretches for us, but we have a resilient group. That right there is enough for us to continue to go on and make progress in the right direction of what we want to become. We’re all still developing our relationships and our roles.
“Obviously, when we won 16 in a row, it was all great, and then now, we have all this going on, it’s part of the game. You can’t change your approach or anything about the way you approach it, and everything will be fine.”