The fourth quarter of a game is ideally where you want to be playing your best basketball, that’s just basic knowledge. Unfortunately for the Boston Celtics, nothing is coming easy for them this season. The Celtics scored just 15 points in the final quarter of Friday’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings, which resulted in them dropping another very winnable game, and meaning that the Celts have now lost three on the bounce and again fall below .500 on the season.
The Celtics went into the All-Star break on the back of four straight wins. It looked like the team was finally gaining the momentum they needed and these were important results going into a week off. After coming back, though, that momentum seems a thing of the past. Friday’s game against the Kings was one of the more winnable ones that the Celtics have seen recently. It was the first game where we saw Boston’s four best players starting together since January 30 against the Lakers and their opponents were a favorable one on paper. The worst defense in the league (118.1 DRtg).
Late collapse dooms the Boston Celtics once again
Both teams were pretty equal through three. On the night, both teams recorded the exact number of rebounds, assists, and turnovers – 45, 22, and 14 respectively. It was one that was set up for going right down to the wire. Both teams relied on their 3-point shot, as the Celtics had more luck scoring the ball in the lane. Boston got 26 combined points from center duo Robert Williams and Daniel Theis, as Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had far from their most efficient nights against an incompetent defense. Jaylen and Jayson combined for 14-of-36 from the field. This could’ve been enough to scrape the win, but put it together with Kemba Walker shooting 33.3 percent on 18 field goal attempts, and you’re starting to think maybe it wasn’t the Celtics night.
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Three Kings scored over 20 points. De’Aaron Fox who has been having an All-Star caliber season and Buddy Hield got theirs, then Richaun Holmes, who was probably the most impressive guy on the night, ended up getting 25 points to go with his 11 boards. This struggling Celtics defense didn’t have too much of an answer. There’re plenty of great defenders on the Celtics, but as a unit, it just isn’t all clicking right now. There’s no need to draw conclusions as we approach the trade deadline, but it’s apparent that a frontcourt presence needs to come in to help this team get to where they want to be.
The Celtics shot 6-of-21 as a team in the fourth quarter, just 2-of-10 from deep. That kind of crunch-time offense just sums up where the Celtics are right now. You can’t be expecting this team to compete with the big boys in the East when they can’t string together a single good quarter against the Kings. The Kings’ best scoring quarter was the first where they totaled 28 points. It’s not like they played out of their skins. They had a few individual performances which were too much for the Celtics on the night, but it should’ve been dealt with. The difference is that the Kings are playing as a unit right now.
Boston is now 20-21. There are 31 games to go, so what we’ve seen thus far can’t really be referred to as a small sample size anymore. They’ve been playing losing basketball for over 50 percent of the season, and have to turn it around. They now sit in the eighth position in the standings. Barring a complete collapse, the Celtics should be making the playoffs this season, but is there really a point in being there if they’re playing the way they are? There’s no room for excuses at this point of the season. They have their guys back and they need to get back to winning ways now. The floor for this season started off as Conference Finals, right now that’s looking untouchable.