As they raced to a 27-2 record to start their title defense, it was hard to find a negative thing to say about the Boston Celtics. If anything, it was starting to become obvious that their bench wasn’t producing with any kind of regularity, but that simply wasn’t an issue because the starters were so effective.
It’s an issue now.
First came the Christmas Day game in L.A., from which the Lakers would emerge with a hard fought, 92-83 victory that came down to the final two minutes. Boston got nothing from its bench in that game, but still looked very good, nothing like a team that would go on to lose four more games in the next two weeks.
But lose they did, to Golden State (99-89), Portland minus Brandon Roy (91-86), the Knicks (100-88) and finally, Charlotte in overtime (114-106) 30 minutes before L.A. braced to face New Orleans at home. That’s not exactly the cream of the NBA’s crop. Boston, now 29-7, next faces the Houston Rockets at home before traveling to Cleveland for an Eastern Conference showdown on Friday evening.
What can we learn from Boston’s post X-Mas struggles? Well, perhaps more than anything else, it’s what we saw before - a lack of depth - finally catching up to a team that was still playing with enormous fire coming off its first NBA title since the 1980s.
Another point might be that few teams were up to the challenge put forth by the defending champs, as the Celtics seemed to win many games before they even stepped onto the floor. But after the Lakers stopped their 19-game winning streak, and Golden State put up a W for the not-so-goods, perhaps other teams were emboldened.
Surely it’s hard to argue with this statement: Boston needs to add a player or two. But who’s out there? James Posey defected to New Orleans; P.J. Brown said he’s not coming out of retirement; Stephon Marbury’s still under contract with the Knicks; and the Celtics don’t have many assets to trade.
Yet for L.A., the sole focus right now - as Phil Jackson mentioned in his pregame talk - needs to be the opponent of the night, not a mid-season swoon from the Celtics … Even if it’s fun for Lakers fans to watch.
