Last season, the Boston Celtics surprised a lot of people when they ended up with a winning record and made it to the playoffs even without an established star on their roster.
With Isaiah Thomas emerging as the team's go-to-guy and adding All-Star center Al Horford to their fold over the summer, expectations are now higher than ever for the Celtics to surpass their achievement last year.
But things have not gone according to plan for the Bean Town team as they have struggled at the start of the season, and are currently 3-4 in their first seven games. When asked what he thinks is the reason why they do not have a winning record, Thomas explained the kind of hustle and effort the team had last year that is missing from them now.
“It's frustrating. It's tough. We're in a bad funk right now. We can't hold our heads. One thing I think is, we're not the hardest-playing team no more. I think that's what made us special, that's what made us good, us playing harder than the other team. Being more scrappier, getting all the loose balls. Rebounds don't come to us no more because we're not playing hard.”
“I gotta watch the film, I gotta see what I have to do better, see what we can do better. That's just the feeling I have right now, that we're not the hardest-playing team. That's what made us special, that's what made us win 48 games last year, and made teams not really want to play against us. We don't have that swagger no more.”
The 5-foot-9 point guard also discussed what mentality the Celtics should have to replicate or even surpass what they accomplished last season.
“[Basketball is about] playing hard. It's leaving it all out there on the floor. That's who we were. That's what made us one of the best defensive teams in the league. That's what made us win 48 games last year. We have to find that swag, we gotta get that back. Because, if we don't, it seems like we're going off talent, which we really don't have that much talent, including myself.
“I think if we get that hard-hat [mentality] back, where we're the hardest-playing team, we're going to be in every game. Just like last year, we didn't get blown out like this. Even though it's early, two really bad games for us, we didn't have these type of games last year.”
If there's any silver lining for the C's right now, it's that they still have 75 more games to play this season. Their leader and All-Star point guard certainly knows what it takes to be successful once again this year. They just need to act quickly and give their full effort to be able to string a few wins together or they'll risk digging a hole too deep for them to get out of.
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