ISAIAH THOMAS: ‘THINGS HAVE GOT TO CHANGE AROUND HERE’

ISAIAH THOMAS: ‘THINGS HAVE GOT TO CHANGE AROUND HERE’


03.18.16 at 11:01 pm ET


By Mike Petraglia






Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) scores as Toronto Raptors center Bismack Biyombo ( attempt a block in the third quarter at Air Canada Centre. (Peter Llewellyn/USA Today Sports)



After Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Thunder, Isaiah Thomas was embarrassed.

He assumed that, after calling out his teammates for getting “punked” and looking “soft as tissue” in the 130-109 loss, the Celtics would come out Friday night in Toronto looking hungry against the Raptors, a team that played an overtime game in Indiana the night before and was playing its fourth game in five nights.

Instead the Celtics were the ones who came out flat, falling down 30-14 after the first 12 minutes and looking shell-shocked and unprepared for Luis Scola.

When it was all said and done, Thomas witnessed his teammates commit 16 turnovers and self-destruct in a 105-91 defeat. Now, he wants something to change.

“We keep losing so we’ve got to change something up,” Thomas told reporters after. “Coach [Stevens] said our third quarter, we played Celtic basketball. We got ourselves back in the game. We showed signs of playing like we know how but against a good team like the Raptors, you can’t play just one good quarter.”

The Celtics did indeed cut a 19-point deficit down to five twice, including at the end of the third on a three from rookie RJ Hunter. But six turnovers in the first five minutes of the fourth and Kyle Lowry (15 points in the fourth) ended any hope of a comeback win.

“I feel like they’re soft turnovers. We’re just being real soft with the ball, not being in control of the possession. That’s the definition of how we’re playing. We’re not playing to the best of our abilities. We’re not playing like we know how. We’re playing like we’re second-guessing all our [decisions], whether it’s offensively or defensively.”

The Celtics are on their first four-game losing streak of the season. They’re 39-30 and suddenly in sixth place in the East. They have winnable games against Philadelphia and Orlando Sunday and Monday but then a game against the Raptors Wednesday at the Garden before heading out West.

“I tried to tell the guys after the game, this is not on the coaches,” Thomas said. “This is not on anybody else. We’re the players. We go out there and play and we’ve got to figure it out. We had this little slump in January and we ended up figuring it out, too.

“But there’s [13] games left, we don’t have that much more room for error, so things have got to change around here.”



bob
MY NOTE: Jae has a warrior's heart and, with his chip on his shoulder, it looks like Isaiah Thomas does too. Everybody else? Jury's out.


.

We are not the same team without Jae and Jerebko, then add more minutes for KO and Zeller ofcourse we are gonna be softer. Smart and AB are in terrible shooting slumps too, they had it going good until a few games ago or so. Suddenly ET is also not very effective last few games too. Were we overachieving before during our good stretches? I'd say yes as a few months ago I was saying/asking how are we doing this? Alot of you educated me on how we were doing it, but pace and space and perimeter D can only take you so far as this team has to play together and did for our good stretches. A few pieces underperforming and a few pieces out is alot to ask of a young overachieving team.

I think you nailed it Cowens.

hard to win when one of your top 2-3 players is out and one of your top scorers is in a bad shooting slump.

I would add that the Smart at SF experiment has failed, so our coaching staff bears some of the blame as well

The last 13 games, I see them probably going 6-7 as currently situated. Road trip out West will potentially be the most damaging. That is a brutal stretch. 6-7 is enough to keep them in the playoffs. The problem is that may put them against a higher seed where just a week ago they were sitting in the fabled catbird seat.

The last thing Brad or any of us want is a repeat of last year's playoff performance. That would show no progress. Getting to the second round and making some noise is our realistic goal. As much as us diehard Celtic fans want to say it's Championship or Bust year in and year out, we know that's not how it is in the league now.

The rebuilds are more time consuming, taking years as this one has after the PP/KG/RA era has passed. More like a marathon. Then you get your shot and maybe have a 2-3 year window, just like how the 2007-08 era began. Then when you are in it, there are no guarantees. Should we have beaten the Lakers in 2010 Championship Series...even TJ would have to agree it was ours until Perkins went down. But that's the breaks...no guarantees even when you have the talent and in the midst of it. Ask LeBron. The way Miami was stacked, they should have one 4 in a row. But he "only" came away 2.

IT says they will figure it out. I'd hate to see them make the progress they have made this season and then repeat last year's performance in the first round, maybe winning a game or two and bowing out. I'll take him at his word. Over the next 13 games we will find out a whole lot about this team's heart for sure. As usual, hold on to your seats!!

db

dbrown4 wrote:The last 13 games, I see them probably going 6-7 as currently situated.  Road trip out West will potentially be the most damaging.  That is a brutal stretch.  6-7 is enough to keep them in the playoffs.  The problem is that may put them against a higher seed where just a week ago they were sitting in the fabled catbird seat.  

The last thing Brad or any of us want is a repeat of last year's playoff performance.  That would show no progress.  Getting to the second round and making some noise is our realistic goal.  As much as us diehard Celtic fans want to say it's Championship or Bust year in and year out, we know that's not how it is in the league now.  

The rebuilds are more time consuming, taking years as this one has after the PP/KG/RA era has passed.  More like a marathon.  Then you get your shot and maybe have a 2-3 year window, just like how the 2007-08 era began.  Then when you are in it, there are no guarantees.  Should we have beaten the Lakers in 2010 Championship Series...even TJ would have to agree it was ours until Perkins went down.  But that's the breaks...no guarantees even when you have the talent and in the midst of it.  Ask LeBron.  The way Miami was stacked, they should have one 4 in a row.  But he "only" came away 2.

IT says they will figure it out.  I'd hate to see them make the progress they have made this season and then repeat last year's performance in the first round, maybe winning a game or two and bowing out.  I'll take him at his word.  Over the next 13 games we will find out a whole lot about this team's heart for sure.  As usual, hold on to your seats!!  

db    

Regardless of the struggle to the finish this year, still better than last year, we know we CAN play with anyone...and also struggle with most anyone. Even if we finish 5th or worse and loose home court still winning a playoff game or 2 is very possible. Beyond that gravy.

The draft and the free agent market is where most of us will be focusing on.

Aside from the personal viewing of the game next Wed vs Toronto the rest of the season really matters little at this point, realistically.

beat