By Jordan Long
The Boston Celtics are on their longest losing streak of the year of 3 games with a loss on Sunday against Orlando. They look to end the streak on tonight as they start a 4 game road trip in L.A.
This is a learning experience for the Celtics. They have played great basketball up to this point. Every team in the NBA seems to have a 3 or 4 game-losing streak during the season and this is theirs. The Celtics are learning more about their team in the losses than the wins. The first one was a 3-point difference in a overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Celtics shot 39.6% from the field. That will not win games when the opponents shoot 45%. They couldn’t guard Anthony Davis who put up 45 points.
Against Philadelphia they lost by 9 and were out rebounded 51 to 38. The Celtics were not able to box out the 76ers and those rebounds lead to more possessions for Philadelphia to add points to the scoreboard.
The final beating was to the Orlando Magic on Sunday. What hurt the Celtics was a 12 point 3rd quarter when they gave up 32 points. It is really difficult to come back to win when a team only scores 12 points in a quarter.
According to MSN.com, Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving said,” You gotta hit some adversity. We have to hit something. Like, we need it as a team. There’s a lot more adversity down the road, and we’ve got to be able to weather the storm no matter what.”
The Celtics must put an end to the skid. The way they can do that is to play better defense. They are an offensive team and can score. The problem in the last 3 games has been allowing the opposition to control the game and score easy buckets. How they end the streak in L.A. is to box out and not allow L.A. to go on long runs . If they allow L.A. to control the tempo of the game, they will not win. Boston must be more physical than L.A. and rebound the ball. Those rebounds will lead to more possessions and the Celtics will be able to start fast breaks. If they are unable to, the slide will be at 4.
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