Ex-Celtics Champ Points To Laziness, Comfortability For Struggles

The Boston Celtics have faced adversity over the past 10 games, and the issue is not just the losses but how they’ve lost those five games.

Former Celtics forward, and current NBC Sports Boston analyst, Brian Scalabrine pointed out why Boston has gone from a once dominant team to one that’s struggling when he joined Zack Lowe on the ESPN’s “The Lowe Post” podcast.

“I’m telling you, they got one problem; they just don’t play that hard when they’re comfortable,” Scalabrine said. “That’s the issue.”

Check out the video below to hear more.

Scalabrine, who won a championship with Boston in 2008, explained the Celtics have changed the way they play defense despite the fact that players used to have an internal rivalry for who was the best defender.

“It used to be a thing to take pride in guarding the ball. They used to take pride in shutting down the best players,” he said. “I actually believe they have moments of that, but they are far from a 48-minute game team that used to sit down defensively.”

Scalabrine explained how the Celtics used to “bend the defense” of opposing teams with multiple players driving the net.

“Like almost overnight, they got a little lazy offensively.”

He added the players are not doing the extra stuff like driving the ball; instead, they are forcing shots over opposing players at the rim and getting away from the fundamentals of the NBA.

Despite recent struggles, Boston still sits just two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings.