Yes, the Celtics were without Jayson Tatum for Monday night's game against the Timberwolves after the star entered health and safety protocols. And yes, they were missing plenty of other players for the same reason. But Boston suffered a disappointing road loss to an even more shorthanded Minnesota team that was without four of their five starters.
The 108-103 collapse was another signature showing from this Celtics team, as it dropped an 11-point halftime lead and allowed the Timberwolves to go on a 14-2 run to start the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown called it one of the "worst losses of the season," but this certainly wasn't an isolated incident.
It was all too reminiscent of Saturday's 15-point collapse to the Milwaukee Bucks -- and of so many other outings for Boston this season.
After Monday's loss, Al Horford -- who returned from a stint in the league's health and safety protocols to drop 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists -- didn't hold back.
"More often than not, especially that second half, we weren't as engaged for whatever reason," he said. "And that goes to speak to the discipline aspect of it. That's something that we address it, we're talking about it. We're talking about things in timeouts. I don't know why, for whatever reason, things are not translating for our group. We don't want to be in this position. Right now it's tough. It's not good enough, what we're doing. The things that we want to accomplish, we can't do it playing like this. We just can't.
"...It doesn't matter who the opponent is on the other side. Milwaukee, really good team. Minnesota, a good team that's obviously, they're fighting in the west but a bunch of their guys (are) out. At the end of the day, we kind of have to look at ourselves, individually and as a team. It's something that we have to do."
Boston dropped to 16-18 on the season and is ninth in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics will look to get back on track as they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
