Losers of four straight and six of their last 10 games, the Celtics (15-16) look like a team past its prime and in need of an immediate fixing.
Many around the Boston area are adamantly suggesting the C's need an overhaul now in order to get better in the long run, but Celtics general manager Danny Ainge hasn't quite come around on that philosophy just yet.
Ainge said that he is in no way ready to panic over the Celtics' play of late, claiming that the absence of key members, such as Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Rajon Rondo, have had a considerable impact on the team's chemistry.
"My feelings haven't changed yet," Ainge said in an interview with the Boston Herald on Monday. "You don't panic when things aren't going well and when your lineup isn't 100 percent."
Head coach Doc Rivers expressed the same type of cool-headed approach, even after Monday's 89-73 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
"Like we always say: We play everybody, and we have to play a little differently," Rivers said of the Celtics' recent struggles. "The difficulty for us is not having Kevin and Brandon. You could see it even [Sunday] night with Rondo. With non-shooters [on the floor] they're trapping Paul [Pierce] and Ray [Allen] all over the floor. There's not a lot of ways to go."
The Celtics head to Oklahoma City on Wednesday for a showdown with Kevin Durant and the NBA-best Thunder (25-7). Garnett is expected back with the team after dealing with a personal matter the past few days, but Rondo will still be sidelined serving the second game of his two-game suspension.
