The Boston Celtics fell apart in Monday's game against the Chicago Bulls.
Boston was outscored 39-11 in the fourth quarter, and forget about the healthy lead it held over the visiting Bulls for the bulk of the game -- the Celtics were leading by as many as 18 points with under six minutes remaining.
The Celtics were 4-for-24 from the field in the fourth quarter (including 0-for-8 from deep) after converting on 51% of field goals and 60% of threes over the first three quarters.
Head coach Ime Udoka explained what he believes went wrong while speaking to the media after the loss.
"I think it was probably before the end of the third. Stopped playing as hard as we were. Started to relax, got a little cute, careless," Udoka said, as shared by NBC Sports Boston. "Some nights you deserve to win, like I felt against Washington, some nights you deserve to lose when you don't take a game seriously. We lost our composure there a little bit when they started blitzing Jayson (Tatum), but overall it was that that we relaxed when we got the lead, acted like the game was over.
"It's a lesson learned, a hard one that should hurt. Should be pissed off. But don't play with the game, mess around with the game. It's going to come back to bite you."
We'll see if the 2-5 Celtics can get it together when they return to the court Wednesday against the Orlando Magic.
