The Boston Celtics should not have lost to the Thunder on Tuesday.
Oklahoma City entered the contest on a 14-game losing streak. It was the second game of a back-to-back set for them, too. Yet somehow, the fifth-worst team in the NBA topped a struggling Celtics squad 119-115.
This loss did not sit well with former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins whatsoever. He unloaded on Boston’s lackluster effort during NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage, and he did not hold back, either.
“Not only is this the worst loss, this is the most embarrassing loss of the season,” Perkins said. “I don’t get it. I don’t get it with the Celtics. Like, people were trying to say Brad’s (Stevens) rotations was messed up. No. What happened was the basketball gods didn’t reward the Boston Celtics because they just didn’t play hard. They didn’t play with no type of effort, no sense of urgency and this is what happens. So the better team tonight, in my opinion, that played harder and wanted it more in the Oklahoma City Thunder won.
“… They deserved to lose. It was the most embarrassing loss of the season, and a piece of humble pie. … This was a game to see what the others were made of, meaning Grant Williams and Semi (Ojeleye). Like, could they step up to the plate and be elite scorers or be able to carry the load? … And the answer is no. They are not capable of doing that. We saw what Payton Pritchard is capable of doing. He’s a walking bucket. But everybody else just underperformed besides Jaylen Brown. Marcus Smart, he hustled but he played dumb throughout the course of the game — took ill-advised shots, took shots that was unnecessary and parts of the time when he could have run the offense, got guys into plays, got the ball to Jaylen Brown. Tristan Thompson was a non-factor tonight. Luke Kornet was OK.
“But overall, the Thunder just came out, they wanted it more and you could tell they were playing desperate for whatever reason. Maybe they were just trying to snap their losing streak. Whatever it was, the Thunder juts wanted it more.
The Celtics have just 10 games left in the regular season to turn things around. But with all the issues still facing Boston, there might not be enough time to right the ship.
