BOSTON — Marcus Smart met Sam Hauser and Robert Williams III at half court and started pointing toward different spots on Boston’s end of the floor. Moments later, he leaned down next to Joe Mazzulla to listen to instructions and the pointing continued. The Celtics started the game 5-for-24 (20.8%) from three, a worse pace than Friday’s first half. Smart sensed teammates pressing again.
“I think we’re putting a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Smart told CLNS Media post-game. “We played so high for a period of time, I think we kind of expected to play like that and it’s not gonna happen. We’re not gonna shoot the way we’ve been shooting and playing the way we’ve been playing all the time. We’re gonna have games like this, we knew it was gonna even out for us, we’ve just gotta go out and play. We definitely have been pressing these last couple of games trying to be perfect.”
The Celtics’ offensive rating fell to 101.0 while losing 4-of-5, the worst mark in the NBA over that stretch, stemming from 48.8% effective shooting that only the Rockets and Hornets trail recently. Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Al Horford and Smart fell back to earth to begin the month, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have shot below their career marks from deep and offensive misfortune is slipping into the team’s defensive consistency. Grant Williams botched an in-bound play late in Sunday’s 95-92 loss, Boston gave up two late offensive rebounds to Markelle Fultz and Brown forced a tough shot that bounced back to give the Celtics a chance.
They had opportunities as the Magic grew colder and finished 38.4% from the field themselves. Smart tried to generate different looks for the Celtics early, pushing the ball ahead to Brown in transition for a back line finish, one of only 16 attempts at the rim in the game for Boston. They mostly launched shots from deep, sometimes early in the shot clock, as their league-leading three point volume became a crutch rather than an edge.
The trailing three-point attempts into the offensive zone that once caught opponents off-guard looked like settling. It’s a consistent approach that left Joe Mazzulla feeling optimistic again after a loss, Boston shot 6-for-15 on threes early in the clock, but it became hard to ignore a growing dejectedness from his players after the misses. Hauser notably shook his head all the way to the bench after launching a long three after the buzzer in the third and watching it bank in after an 0-for-3 start.
“I’m just trying to constantly instill confidence in my guys, give them their flowers. For us, it’s hard enough, you’ve got everybody else in the world telling you what you’re doing wrong,” Smart told CLNS. “So the guys that you go to work with every day, you’re gonna need to, when you’re on the court … I’m trying to praise them and tell them what they did right, to do more of it, including myself as well. It’s part of it, you can see it on their faces, it’s not fun and that’s what it is. When you come out with low energy and press the way we did, you’re not gonna have fun. We just got to get back to that and relax and play, myself included. I’ve been playing like butt these last couple of games, and I’ve got to be better.”
Orlando packed the paint and dared the Celtics to shoot like on Friday in a game that followed a nearly identical trend in the first half. Hauser got blocked twice behind the three point line, falling to 25.7% from deep this month after a scorching start to the season. Players talked and tried to get the spacing on the floor right, Robert Williams III in particular continuing to acclimate to the team’s screening and movement actions. Tatum missed the game for personal reasons, further challenging a group that had to fill his playmaking in the pick-and-roll.
Brown missed a 360 layup try at the rim, Smart watched his post pass get batted away by Mo Bamba and Paolo Banchero peppered the Celtics’ defense with timely baskets through a 31-point performance that led the game. Boston shot 7-for-21 inside the paint and 2-for-8 from mid range, unable to find a spot to score from other than from three. White and Williams III missed cutting looks at the rim in the third and Grant botched a dunk attempt. Misfortune cost the Celtics in this game, to some degree, but a miracle in LA is all that prevented it from marking Boston’s fifth straight setback as the Bucks passed them in the loss column.
“I think that we’ve got to get accustomed to playing that way at all times,” Grant said. “Through that first month, we were doing a good job of playing freely, getting open looks and then over the course of a stretch, I think we got back to our old ways, old habits, and then we kind of came back and now we’re starting to figure ourselves out again. Just because the shots aren’t falling, doesn’t mean we’re not playing the right way. That’s something that I’ve been huge on the team and we’ve been huge on each other, saying that just make sure we create the right advantages and create the right opportunity, and it’ll all work out. We all have faith in one another.”
Boston’s best look of the night came on a simple post touch to Williams III, who kicked out to Malcolm Brogdon in the corner, who swung to Hauser to his left for his lone three. Brogdon tossed a transition run back to Hauser on another play for a heave early in the clock, a play emblematic of the challenge facing Mazzulla and the Celtics right now.
This approach worked at a historic level to start the season, so it makes sense why they wouldn’t steer from it over a handful of losses, but the group didn’t have an answer to Orlando’s disruptive defensive approach. Grant tried to challenge them unsuccessfully by attacking closeouts. Brown turned the ball over, expressing frustration over travel calls post-game. A flurry of plays where the Celtics lost Magic cutters hurt.
That’s where Smart grew concerned, not seeing his teammates lean into their defense and giving themselves extra chances on offense to escape their slump. Grant stayed optimistic, noting the communication evident throughout the game as the Celtics tried to work themselves out of the hole. Smart almost did, landing on a pass Horford tipped away to give Boston a chance at a game-winning shot they never got off. Mazzulla said he should’ve communicated better and Grant thought the Celtics could’ve used a timeout. Instead, another game slipped away.
“The body language, you can tell, we miss a shot we usually make and we’re just looking like, what the … is going on? It didn’t go in,” Smart said. “Then also, offensive rebounding, we just allowed teams to get up under us, sneak up under us. What we usually do to people, they’re doing to us. Those two signs right there just lets us know how much we’re pressing. We put so much emphasis on every shot that we make that we’re playing with lots of energy.”
