Eddie House calls out Celtics’ defense after rough loss to Raptors
“I’m just trying to figure out this team right now. ... The defense over this last month has stunk."
The Celtics have fallen into a rut during the dog days of the 2024-25 season.
Even though Boston boasts plenty of talent, Joe Mazzulla’s squad has struggled to put it all together on the hardwood over the last few weeks — losing seven of its last 14 games.
Wednesday’s loss to a rebuilding Raptors team — shortly just narrowly escaping a home loss to a bad Pelicans team — marks the latest low point for a Boston team struggling to find its footing since the holidays.
Boston’s regression in 3-point shooting has played a large role in the Celtics’ slide in the standings, but former Celtics guard Eddie House took the team’s defensive effort to task after this latest loss to Toronto.
“I’m just trying to figure out this team right now. … The defense over this last month has stunk,” House said on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “We put together a quarter here, a quarter there, maybe a half here and a half there. But a complete game of playing championship-caliber defense, I just haven’t seen it.
“I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s fatigue, I don’t know if it’s just the dog days of January and the end of December, whatever the case is. But we’re gonna get every team’s best shot.”
Even though Boston’s 3-point shooting has left a lot to be desired as of late, the Celtics actually fared better (34.8 percent) than the Raptors (32.4 percent) beyond the arc on Wednesday.
But Toronto torched Boston’s lackluster defense, shooting 50.6 percent from the field in the victory.
Much like fellow ex-Celtic Brian Scalabrine’s recent musings, House stressed that Boston is expected to face a daunting test every single game, given their standing as the defending champions.
“So this is not something that we have to be like, ‘Oh man, we’re surprised that we’re getting everybody’s best shot.’ You know that. You’re the champs,” House said of the expectations placed on Boston. You know what I mean? You’re coming off of winning a world championship. You’re gonna get every team’s best shot, so you better come prepared.”
But even with Boston’s recent slide, House stressed that the Celtics are still not at risk of having such a promising season completely bottom out.
“There’s no panic button to hit,” House said. “But there has to be some self-reflection from this team to look and say, ‘Hey man, it’s just not good enough.’ Especially what you’re trying to do because you’re building habits right now, and the habits that are being built and that are happening aren’t great habits.”
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