When you lose to a team that has been down and out, well, what does that make you?
If you’re the Boston Celtics, the answer is a record of 20-20 and looking little like the true Eastern Conference contender they were supposed to be.
The second loss in two nights came on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers by a 117-110 count Wednesday. The Cavs (15-25) had lost four straight entering the night.
Former Celtics forward and current NBC Sports Boston studio analyst Brian Scalabrine said right now, it’s an identity issue.
“We don’t even know what Celtics basketball is,” Scalabrine said on the postgame show when the topic of identity was mentioned. “That’s the problem with this team. Watch all the good teams play. They all have an identity. You don’t replicate the identity every single day, but that’s what you try to do.
“And most of the time you’re playing a certain way, and you feed off your stars. And defensively you have a presence. (The Celtics) really don’t have a basketball identity and it’s disappointing.”
The Celtics managed just 38 points in the first half. It’s true that they had lost a home game to the Utah Jazz the previous night — but the Cavs were also playing a the second night of a back-to-back after playing on the road.
“All we’re going to try to keep focusing on is playing good basketball,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “We saw more of that in the second half. We didn’t see enough of it in the first, and it bit us.”
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points, and Jaylen Brown tacked on 28. Cleveland won the rebounding battle, 33-25, and was led by Collin Sexton‘s 29 points and Darius Garland‘s 25.
“It’s tough but we’re all in this together,” Tatum said. “So we’re going to figure it out.”
Tatum may have a point. The Celtics entered Wednesday as winners of five of seven. So there were glimmers of things getting back to normal. But losses like this makes you wonder if it’s just not in the cards.
