Ime Udoka, understandably, was not pleased with the defense (or lack thereof) the Celtics showcased Tuesday night against the Lakers.
Boston dropped its game to Los Angeles despite Jayson Tatum going off to the tune of 34 points. The defense just couldn’t seem to get into a groove all game, and Udoka didn’t hold back on his thoughts after the loss.
“Whether (Tatum) was scoring or not, our defense was horrible from the start,” the Celtics head coach told reporters, per The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach.
“… A little disappointed as far as I felt we were out-hustled, out-toughed a little bit,” Udoka added of Boston’s performance. “They wanted to put their head down and get to the basket, and they did too easily.
“So it hasn’t happened in a long time, so I told the guys, a blip on the radar, but we need to get back to it (Wednesday) and we got a chance to. So that part was disappointing as far as them really wanting to put their head down and get to the basket, get whatever they wanted as I mentioned. And so we said obviously we’re better than that defensively, we’ve shown that. The effort and lack of toughness showed a little bit tonight.”
Udoka ended up pulling his starters in the final five minutes of the game with the C’s down 15 in hopes to create a spark after the offense fell flat on top of playing the first of a back-to-back.
There isn’t much time for a turnaround as the Celtics continue their West Coast swing against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 10:30 p.m. ET.
