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The Boston Celtics crumbled in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, getting outscored by 10 points in the final frame to suffer a 108-103 loss as Joel Embiid dominated down the stretch. The defeat dropped the Celtics under .500 to 15-16 on the season.
While Boston has not been able to find any kind of consistency this season, for a variety of reasons, star Jaylen Brown is still confident this team can escape this sludge of mediocrity. Via Brian Robb of MassLive.com:
“No question,” Brown said. “I think it’s an obvious answer for me. I know people are probably tired of hearing it, people have lost belief and faith, but mine is unwavering. I think we still can be a good team. I think we’ve shown it in spurts. I’ve been out for an extended point of time. I’m trying to get back. We’ve got guys out with COVID. I know that’s not an excuse or anything, other teams do as well. But if the question is, you asked, do I still believe? 100 percent, regardless of if anybody else does or not.”
As Brown noted himself, his own health issues have played a role in the Celtics struggling. They're also dealing with COVID-19 issues, though he acknowledged that a lot of teams are fighting through that right now. Still, there are some good reasons why this Boston team has failed to click this season.
The excuses are valid for now, but at some point, Brown and the Celtics will need to start winning games. Boston was mediocre last season as well, and another blah season would be a major disappointment for a team with Brown and Jayson Tatum leading the way. Tatum has had his own issues, so the Celtics will need him to get back to his dominant ways.
If this season does go south, there will only be more rumblings about breaking up Brown and Tatum. Luckily, there's still plenty of time left to fix this.
