Boston Celtics: Loss to Brooklyn Nets increases panic level

The Boston Celtics took their third straight loss to a sub-par team in the Brooklyn Nets. If things don’t turn around in a hurry will Danny Ainge be forced to shake this team up?

Many die-hard Boston Celtics fans had a slight reprieve this past Sunday as we watched our New England Patriots take care of business in the divisional round and destroy the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium.

I was able to distract my mind for a few hours and forget that the current state of this Celtics team is eerily similar to my old high school relationship.

One day we’re doing fine, things are great, we are madly in love and winning games. We had problems in the past but those seem over now and we are on our way to the promise land.

More from Chowder and Champions

• 3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
• 10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster Deadline
• MLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return
• 3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 Season
• Red Sox Continue Rollercoaster Season With Massive Win

The next thing I know she hates me and loses three straight games to inferior Eastern Conference opponents and I’m forced to break up with her. Don’t worry, she’ll probably beat the Toronto Raptors next game and make it up to me because she’s so unpredictable. And on and on this toxic relationship goes.

After back-to-back awful losses in the great state of Florida to two sub-par teams in the Miami Heat (21-20) and Orlando Magic (19-24), the thought was that the Boston Celtics would bounce back and play with something to prove Monday night.

Nope, just another pitiful performance against the Brooklyn Nets. The final score was 109-102, but was never really that close with the Nets up by close to 30 at one point.

As if losing these games weren’t bad enough, there was a little off the court drama going on amongst the team  as well.  First, there was Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown having a little shoving match during the Heat game in Miami last Thursday. And then, a terrible ending to the Magic game on Saturday where “Clutch” Kyrie Irving didn’t take the last shot with 2.7 seconds left.

Irving was visibly upset about the fact he didn’t get the ball when it seemed like Brad Stevens had drawn up a play to get him open for the shot. Kyrie has also expressed frustration with the current state of this team as a whole and voiced some of those thoughts with reporters after the Magic game.

"“These are things I don’t think some of my teammates have faced every single day. It’s not easy to be great. So the things you’re doing, that you’ve done your entire career of being able to coast by in certain situations and you’ve gotten away with your youth and stuff like that, being on a championship ballclub, you can’t get away with that.” – Kyrie Irving, via Boston Herald"

Clearly, Uncle Drew is not happy with how the season has gone so far and one thing you can pull from this quote is the fact he wants to see more effort on a consistent basis, especially from the younger guys.

The latest debacle

This leads us back to Monday night’s  game vs the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center. This is the same Nets team that the Boston Celtics blew out by 20 points just seven days ago in Boston. Granted the team had Kyrie and Marcus Smart  available that night, both of whom sat out this game. But it shouldn’t matter when you claim to have the deepest team in the league right?

Wrong.

So with all that being said “it’s time.”

And by “its time” I mean to it is time to fully smash our hands on the panic button and seriously start considering shaking this roster up!

There are some people content with letting this team figure it out. I was one of those people. I thought as long as they could stay healthy for the playoffs than everything would just figure itself out once they got there.  But it’s starting to feel like this Boston Celtics team just needs a change.

Something just isn’t meshing.

Maybe this idea that all these talented wing players will suddenly figure out how to play well together just isn’t going to happen.

Jaylen Brown has been at the center of some of the controversy lately and is always brought up when it’s suggested that this team needs to make a trade. I don’t believe Brown is at fault for all this team’s issues. I don’t think the problem lies with any one player. It’s just starting to look like these mix of guys just might not work together and that’s OK.

Sometimes things like that happens in the NBA, you just have to fix it and move forward.

What’s not OK is consistently underperforming when you are this talented. If things don’t legitimately turn around here shortly, “trader” Danny Ainge will have no choice but to start wheeling and dealing if he really wants to win an NBA title this season.

In the meantime I’m making it known that my concern level is officially on DEFCON (defense readiness  condition) 5. (Upon further review DEFCON 1 is actually the highest level of severity, I’ll stick with 5 because it sounds cooler).

Maybe just like the reference I made about two ex- high school sweethearts, you have to learn to call it quits if it’s not working out. You eventually just got to move on. This team has had half a season to prove they could make this work consistently. It hasn’t.

Maybe it’s time for these Boston Celtics to make a move of their own.