Rare Celtics Stinker Was a Glimpse of Life If Preseason Expectations Were Right

BOSTON — The Celtics night was summed up perfectly at the end of the third quarter of their loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

With about three minutes to go, they pieced together an 8-3 spurt that was giving them a little life. They went from down 22 down 17. They forced a miss and, with a minute to go, had the ball and chance to really close the quarter strong and build some momentum. They were in a classic “just get this under 15 heading into the fourth quarter and who knows what could happen situation.”

Jaylen Brown used a screen from Nikola Vucevic to drive left, cross over to his right, and then hit Ryan Kalkbrenner with a nice Pinoy step to free up his left hand for a layup. It left his hand and touched the backboard with 59.1 on the clock. By the time it bounced around the rim, spun in place, and finally fell off the side of the rim and into Sion James’s hand, the clock was showing 56.6.

I thought the Celtics had leprechauns for moments like this?

The nearly three-second wait felt like an eternity on a night like this, and the ball lipping out was as deflating as an Empire State Building trophy is to a Woody Woodpecker balloon.

Instead of Boston cutting the lead to 15, the Hornets ripped off six quick points in 33 seconds to go into the fourth up 23.

“Today wasn't characteristic of us. That wasn't Celtic basketball,” Jaylen Brown said “They had more energy than us. That hasn't happened a lot all season long. Today was not the best example of Celtic basketball, and we all can be better. And being a leader, I take accountability."

Brown got to the rim 13 times, but only finished six. If there's one thing Joe Mazzulla has stressed in his time as coach of the Celtics, it’s that misses at the rim can be the most damaging play on the floor outside of a live-ball turnover.

“I would say, especially in the first quarter alone … 70% of [Charlotte’s baskets] came off missed layups and poor offense,” Mazzulla said. “They play at a certain pace, especially when you're missing in 5-on-4. So I would say 30% of the possessions we need to be better, and the rest, inefficient offense and missed layups puts you in 5-on-4 at the other end.”

In a lot of ways, this simply falls under “one of those nights;” an inexplicable phenomenon where athletes show up with good intentions, but just don’t have it. It happens to all of us sometimes, except we get to play around on the internet or do some online shopping while our brains thaw. Professional athletes get embarrassed in front of 19,000 people.

“We've won games with me not being on the floor, with me not playing at my best. We definitely can,” Brown said. “Tonight, I think we all just were a step slow. We missed easy ones, and then at times through adversity, I feel like that's when leadership is supposed to step up, and then I just didn't have it tonight. So you move on to the next and get ready for Dallas."

In a way, this is a reminder of what life would have been like if the Celtics hadn’t exceeded all of their expectations. They came into this season with people calling their frontcourt one of the worst in the league, expecting nothing from guys like Hugo Gonzalez, and wondering if Payton Pritchard could excel without all the star power around him. The Celtics have proven all those notions to be wrong, but for one night, we got to see what it would have looked like if people were right.

I give it one star. I do not recommend it. I much prefer Neemias Queta channeling Wilt Chamberlain, Gonzalez looking like a future All-Star, and Baylor Scheierman helping fuel a monster defense. Where do I file a help ticket to get that stuff back?

It’s probably a one-night thing. But man, that one night sucked.