Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Celtics are not giving championship-level defensive effort, Eddie House says
"Defensively, I feel like we aren't engaged the way that we need to be engaged to win a championship."
There are nights when the shots just don’t fall, but the one thing a basketball team can always control is it’s effort level.
The Celtics, who have won at least 51 games each of the last three seasons, have been remarkably consistent. But, they’ve had a bad month by their standards, going 7-6 in December. They’ve lost four of their last six games.
NBC Sports Boston’s Eddie House, who was a key reserve on the Celtics’ 2008 championship squad, said he has not seen enough effort from the defending champions in recent weeks.
“I think we’ve taken a step back,” House said on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Postgame Live, as transcribed by the outlet. “And I can say this: Defensively, I feel like we aren’t engaged the way that we need to be engaged to win a championship.
Advertisement:
“It has to start happening right now. I’m talking about on an every-game basis. That’s the one thing that travels. The shot doesn’t travel, but your defense does travel. We can’t have these lapses. Do I still believe that we are a championship team? Yes. But do I think that we’re giving championship effort on the defensive end? I don’t believe that.”
The Celtics, who led the league in defensive efficiency last year, have slipped to eighth this season. They are giving up 50 points in the paint per game, which is 24th in the league.
Jaylen Brown said he has felt the Celtics’ defensive intensity slip recently. He said the Celtics have to be intentional about bringing the energy and rising to the occasion consistently.
Advertisement:
“Being aggressive, getting stops, being aggressive on defense, sparking that energy for us that we need so that we can overcome this,” Brown said. “It’s a long journey. We knew this was going to happen. We knew we were going to get teams’ best during the regular-season.”
“We’re getting playoff-like intensities every night. We love it. It’s going to help us grow if we look at it with the right intentionality and the right perspective. We can’t complain about it. We’ve just got to meet the challenge and I feel like we’ll be better for it. We’ve got to continue to see where we need to grow and that’s the most important thing … and then come out and play Celtic basketball.”
Jayson Tatum said he does not believe the Celtics are overconfident. They are not satisfied with the results that the team is getting.
“We have the humility because we’ve been through it,” Tatum said. “We’ve been though times and points of the season where we’ve taken it for granted and I think we have learned from that. But, I think, we’re just at a point in the season where we’re not happy where we’re at. We all have to understand we played a part in where we’re at right now. We’ve just got to be better.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com