The Boston Celtics’ title protection hit a brand new low on Saturday night time once they collapsed within the last seconds of regulation and finally misplaced to the Atlanta Hawks in time beyond regulation. With that consequence, the Celtics are actually 7-7 over their final 14 video games and have fallen 6.5 video games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 1 seed within the Jap Convention. 

Whereas the Celtics, now 29-13 and in second place within the East, stay one of many favorites to win all of it, the final month or so has been the worst they’ve performed for an prolonged stretch for the reason that begin of final season. Nobody in Boston is panicking but. In actual fact, Joe Mazzulla mentioned after the loss to the Hawks that he’s “truly extra excited at this juncture of the season than I used to be originally.”

Nonetheless, forward of their nationwide TV matchup with the Golden State Warriors on Monday (5 p.m. ET on TNT), it is value taking a more in-depth have a look at why the defending champs have struggled recently, and whether or not any of these points are trigger for long-term concern. 

1. Poor 3-point taking pictures

The Celtics are synonymous with 3-pointers at this level, and so they began the season by tying the NBA report for made 3s in a recreation with 29 in a blowout win over the New York Knicks. They’ve had a number of different big nights from past the arc, however have usually struggled to search out the taking pictures success that sustained them on their run to the title. Whereas they nonetheless lead the league in makes an attempt per recreation by a large margin at 49.1, they’ve made simply 36.2% of them, which ranks sixteenth. 

Throughout this skid, the taking pictures has been much more wayward. Their 35.3% clip from 3-point vary during the last 14 video games is twenty second within the league. In six of these video games they shot beneath 30%; within the entirety of the 2023-24 season that they had 12 such outings. 

For essentially the most half they’re nonetheless creating beauty, however for one cause or one other they don’t seem to be taking place. Let’s evaluate their taking pictures on open (closest defender four-to-six toes away) and extensive open (closest defender six-plus toes away) photographs over the last 14 video games to the entire of final season. 

2023-24 season

Over final 14 video games

As you’ll be able to see, they’re creating virtually an similar variety of open and extensive open 3s, however they have been ice chilly recently, notably on open appears. You’d count on that to vary in some unspecified time in the future, however even when they finally snap out of this hunch, there is no assure that they return to final season’s kind. And that may very well be a difficulty come playoff time given how a lot they depend on the 3-pointer. 

2. Failing within the fourth quarter

There have been issues concerning the Celtics’ play late in video games relationship again years, however they appeared to place the difficulty behind them final season once they had the sixth-best successful share (.636) in clutch video games — rating inside 5 factors with 5 or fewer minutes remaining — throughout the common season and went an ideal 6-0 in them throughout the playoffs. 

Just lately, nonetheless, they’ve had some main points within the fourth quarter. Relationship again to Dec. 23, when this poor run of kind began, they’ve a minus-3.0 internet ranking within the fourth and are taking pictures 45% from the sector within the last body, marks which rank 18th and twentieth within the league, respectively. 

The fourth-quarter points have been diverse. There have been situations, resembling their loss to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder on Jan. 5 once they shot 3 of 18 and had been outscored by 17 factors, the place your entire body was a multitude. On different events, most lately the catastrophe in opposition to the Hawks, they’ve melted down proper close to the top. In that one, that they had the ball and a three-point lead with 20 seconds left and managed to lose after a collection of errors. 

“I’ve had stretches or no matter, robust spurts all through my NBA profession,” All-Star ahead Jayson Tatum mentioned after the loss to the Hawks. “All of them current their totally different challenges. You are simply at a special level in your profession and your life. … We’re simply making an attempt to determine the way to win and issues like that. Nevertheless it simply goes to indicate it is arduous to win an NBA recreation. Every night time it is robust and you have to convey it each single night time.”

Even with their current woes, the Celtics are 12-8 in clutch video games this season, a .600 successful share that is almost proper consistent with final season. They have not all of a sudden forgotten the way to win, however they do have to do a greater job sustaining their focus for a full 48 minutes. On that word …

3. A championship hangover

The Celtics seem to have fallen sufferer to the dreaded championship hangover throughout this hunch. The night-to-night depth and energy that fueled their 64-win marketing campaign final season has gone lacking. 

“It is not a long-term effort factor, however within the quick time period, yeah,” Mazzulla mentioned after the Celtics had been run out of the health club by the Sacramento Kings within the fourth quarter again on Jan. 10. “I believe our inefficient offense put stress on our protection, and so they had been capable of reap the benefits of that with effort performs, whether or not it was offensive rebounding, open threes. You are coming down lacking them and so they’re coming down making them, it is going to take a toll on you.”

A couple of days later, Kristaps Porzingis referred to as out himself and his teammates following a shock defeat to the tanking Toronto Raptors, who dominated the fourth quarter en path to a snug win. 

“I assumed we had no spirit, with no character right now as a group,” Porzingis mentioned. “It is bizarre to say. Now we have excessive character individuals however issues are usually not going our means. We’re a step gradual right here, there. Simply no spirit, no character.”

Stretches like this in the course of the season are widespread for a group making an attempt to defend its title. The Celtics had been taking part in till mid-June final season, had three key gamers spend all summer time in Paris with Crew USA on the Olympics, then opened coaching camp early on Sept. 25 earlier than heading to Abu Dhabi for a pair of preseason video games in opposition to the Denver Nuggets. 

If all goes to plan, they’ve one other 5 months of basketball remaining this season, so it is no shock that they’ve tried to coast for some time. And so they most likely may have gotten away with it in the event that they hadn’t stopped making 3s on the identical time. 

4. Disappearing D-White

It is necessary to state that the Celtics’ downturn just isn’t the fault of anyone participant. They’ve all had poor performances and made errors over this 14-game stretch. So then why single out Derrick White? 

For one, White’s had a very robust time. He is appeared in 13 of the 14 video games and has averaged 12.5 factors on 41.4% taking pictures from the sector, together with 33.6% on 3-point tries, 3.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and two turnovers. His outdoors taking pictures has fallen off a cliff, and he hasn’t been almost as impactful in different areas of the sport. 

After coming back from a one-game absence in opposition to the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 7 on account of an sickness, White scored in single figures for 3 consecutive video games and went 1 of 18 from behind the arc alongside the best way. Since Dec. 23, the Celtics have been plus-5.3 factors per 100 possessions higher with White off the court docket 

Moreover, White’s emergence as a borderline All-Star final season was one of many main causes the Celtics went from an excellent group to an unstoppable one. Along with his stellar protection, he shot a career-high 39.6% from 3-point vary and supplied the Celtics a 3rd dependable on-ball creator behind Tatum and Jaylen Brown. There have been stretches and full video games, even within the playoffs, the place he may carry the offense if a kind of two was struggling. 

When White is not at his finest, neither are the Celtics. As soon as he snaps out of this funk, they need to rapidly resume their successful methods.