On frigid night, C’s have no energy
When the Celtics humiliated the Suns with a blowout victory in early December, it seemed to be something of a decisive warning shot to the rest of the NBA. At that point, the C’s had rarely cratered en route to their 21-5 start.
But that victory ultimately came with an important lesson to recall. Their first slump of the season came directly after, and when they were blown out in a similar fashion in Oklahoma City in January, interim head coach Joe Mazzulla reminded them of that game in Phoenix.
The message? Don’t get too high on the victories and not too low over the losses. And it takes more than a great start to be a great team.
Almost two months later, the Celtics are still atop the NBA but have shown to be vulnerable. And their inconsistencies have become a trend. Those reminders were loud on a cold night at TD Garden on Friday. Two nights after their record-breaking demolition of the Nets, they took a step back. After trailing by as many as 20, the C’s nearly came back but the bid fell short with a humbling and frustrating 106-94 loss to the undermanned Suns.
As the final seconds ticked down, Jaylen Brown — who led the Celtics with 27 points — threw his towel down in frustration.
“I think that they came out and outplayed us from start to finish for the most part,” Brown said. “We got out to a decent start, but they outplayed us. No energy. They got more shots than we did. We were walking the ball on the floor every possession. We just didn’t have the enthusiasm tonight. Just kind of going through the motions as a unit. …
“For whatever reason, there was just no energy.”
The Celtics are now just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Bucks and 2 1/2 games ahead of the 76ers, with matchups against both teams coming before the All-Star break.
Jayson Tatum scored just 20 points on 3-for15 shooting, emblematic of a horrendous shooting night from the Celtics, who shot 38.7% from the floor and 26.3% from long range in the loss to the Suns, who were without star Devin Booker and were coming off a 32-point loss to the Hawks two nights ago.
Two nights after their one of their most complete wins of the season, the Celtics looked lackadaisical from the opening tip, even after they jumped out to an early lead while the Suns missed their first nine shots. But as the visitors got it together — going on a 10-0 run to take the lead — the Celtics were stuck playing catch-up all night.
Brown scored the Celtics’ first 10 points before Derrick White made a layup with 3:41 to go in the first. Tatum missed his first six shots and went scoreless until there was 3:35 left in the first quarter. Their frontcourt was giving almost nothing, and unlike Wednesday, the shots weren’t falling within a stagnant offense, as the C’s fell behind by 20 late in the second quarter.
Tatum’s triple late in the second ignited an 11-0 run and a spark the Celtics carried into the second half, when they cut their deficit to one possession five times and trailed by one heading into the fourth after Robert Williams’ shot clock-beating jumper. But they couldn’t get over the hump and the Suns took control again in the fourth.
“I thought we got off to a really good start defensively, and our energy just kind of waned because we had a lot of empty possessions on the offensive end,” Mazzulla said. “We let go of the rope for about a little bit of a quarter to where they made a run, and then we fought back and the same thing happened in the second half.
“I just thought we were inconsistent in our detail.”
The Celtics had a chance to take the lead to start the fourth but Malcolm Brogdon missed a floater. On the next Suns possession, Luke Kornet rolled his ankle that led to a 3-pointer. Kornet stayed in the game and was hobbling the next time down as he fouled Jock Landale on a dunk for a three-point play, and the Celtics ultimately didn’t have any fight left as the Suns soon restored their lead to double digits.
“They were willing to run and we didn’t answer,” Brown said. “I think the start of that fourth quarter, once we cut it to one, that was kind of the game and we gotta be ready to go. Usually that group is really good to start the fourth and put pressure on the team. Tonight, that wasn’t the case.”
It was another frustrating night for the Celtics — who have lost four of their last six — as they underperformed against an inferior and undermanned team again. Mazzulla didn’t think it was a mental or toughness issue.
“I don’t know if it was a toughness thing as much as it’s a math thing; you can’t get outshot by 20, you can’t have 15 turnovers for 16 points for their nine, and you can’t have 10 offensive rebounds to our three,” Mazzulla said. “You have to be able to win on those margins all the time. We got into a really good rhythm of being able to do that, and so we just have to understand that’s something that we have to do night-in and night-out, which is hard. So that’s kind of the test for us.”
Brown said the Suns simply wanted it more, the Celtics went through the motions, and they paid the price.
“We gotta be better. We know that,” Brown said. “We didn’t come out with the right energy and we got beat.”