The Boston Celtics are a mess right now; but they’ll probably be fine

The Boston Celtics are the defending champions that have all the pieces back from that title run. They are 2nd in the East and well positioned to make another title run this spring.

The Boston Celtics are a complete mess right now. Inconsistency, lack of effort, and the focus of a 2nd grader with ADHD have plagued the team for well over a month.

Both things can be true!

I get that people like to argue online. It is a pastime that (frankly) has benefited this blog to no end. So, by all means, carry on carrying on. However, as the old man in the room, I’m obligated to pretend that I’ve learned a few things along the way and encourage you to take a deep breath before diving into your next flame skirmish.

There’s no sugar coating the way this team is playing right now. At times, they’ve shown the traits of what made them a juggernaut last season, but lately, those moments are brief glimpses rather than extended reminders. For every solid win, there’s a head scratching loss. For every step forward, there’s a step back jumper (that hits the front of the rim and starts a fast break in the other direction).

I guess whatever motivation they got from Team USA snubs and benchings was forgotten by the time the Thanksgiving turkey was served.

We know that they know how to win — we’ve seen them do it time and time again. They just aren’t doing it consistently right now. This can go in a couple different directions.

The hope is that the team will use this mid-season slump to fuel their focus and find their footing in the next couple of months. If all goes right, they could be peaking at the right time and hit the playoffs running. If they raise Banner 19, this will all be forgotten like 3.5 floppy disks.

On the other hand, the danger is that the team is developing bad habits that (in case you haven’t heard) are typically hard to break. You don’t have to look too far in the rearview mirror to remember this core group dropping inexplicable games against lesser competition which ended up being a sign of things to come in the playoffs (too often against the Miami Heat). If they flame out in the playoffs, we’ll have to hear the talking heads calling last year’s title a fluke.

I was going to say that there are different scenarios between those two extremes, but there aren’t really. This franchise, with these players, with the experience that they have, can either repeat as champions or fall short of expectations. Even a hard-fought, seven-game loss to the Thunder in the Finals would be a disappointment.

Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The good news is that there’s still a lot of time left in the season. We haven’t even hit the All-Star break or the trade deadline. We know this team has it in them to be dominant again. They bought a lot of trust with that banner back in June. Chances are, they’ll figure things out and all will be forgiven.

Unless they don’t. In which case a lot of folks will get to say “see, I told you so.” And they’ll have that going for them. Which is nice.