‘That fear is gone’: Brian Scalabrine said opponents are no longer scared of the Celtics
"Guys are excited about playing us and when they come out here, they're showing it," he said.
Last year, the Celtics felt like a juggernaut, wielding the NBA’s most efficient offense and its second most efficient defense.
They locked up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 in late-March, and the final few weeks of the regular-season felt like a formality. The Celtics had too much depth, too much shooting, and had clearly outpaced the rest of the league.
This year is different. The offensive efficiency has slipped to third, the defensive efficiency has slipped to sixth, and the Celtics’ 3-point shooting percentage has regressed from elite to middle-of the pack. They have dropped to second place in the standings and are in danger of letting the third-place Knicks pass them if they keep playing like this.
Other teams are catching up. Boston has lost seven of its last 14 games, and Wednesday’s loss to the Raptors showed that opponents aren’t afraid of the Celtics anymore, NBC Sports Boston’s Brian Scalabrine said.
“I think the first half was phenomenal,” Scalabrine said of the Raptors game on Celtics Postgame Live. “I thought we were punch for punch, good basketball. The second half, I don’t know. I don’t know what they thought.
“Did they think that the Raptors were going to lay down?” Scalabrine added. “It’s just, we’re not playing what I call that hard-nosed Celtic basketball that we got to seeing last year where there was fear in the eyes of our opponent. I’m sorry, man. That fear is gone. It’s just not like that anymore.”
It’s not just that the Celtics are losing that matters. It’s also who they are losing to and how it is happening. Chicago, Philadelphia, and Toronto are sub-.500 teams. Sacramento was too, but has since improved their record to 20-20 after beating the Celtics. Orlando didn’t have Paolo Banchero or either of the Wagner brothers when they beat Boston in December.
The Celtics are losing to bad teams partially because of streaky shooting, but also because they are struggling to muster the proper defensive intensity on a consistent basis.
“Guys are excited about playing us and when they come out here, they’re showing it,” Scalabrine said. “You’ve got Scotty Barnes clapping right in Jayson Tatum’s face. Right there.”
“Like, it is really interesting how if you remember ’08-’09, dudes feared us,” he continued. “That’s just how it was. I’m sorry, I’m just not seeing it with this group. I’m not seeing other teams like ‘man, we’ve got to be on-point today or the Celtics are going to drub us by 50.’ I don’t know if those days are gone, but we are not seeing that.”
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