The Boston Celtics are a very proud group, but it seems that pride has taken a hit during their ugly losing streak.
The Celtics, who came out of the All-Star break with the best record in the NBA, have lost four of their last five games and fallen closer to the Eastern Conference's No. 3 seed than its No. 1 seed. All four losses have come against conference opponents, with the last two coming by way of overtime. In their previous three defeats, the Celtics have also blown double-digit leads.
That much is enough to have any team down on themselves, but Marcus Smart believes there's one thing the Celtics can do to get back on track.
"We've got to play harder," Smart said, per NBC Sports Boston. "That's one thing we tried to pride ourselves on, especially early on this season, is being the tougher team and right now we're not. Teams are coming in and -- our toughness, fixing that will fix a lot of things.
"Having that tough mentality, coming back in and throwing the first punch, and if you do get hit, hit back and get up. Everything else will start slowly coming back together."
Boston does have some valid excuses for its recent down play. Robert Williams III, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Malcolm Brogdon and Jaylen Brown have all had absences over that stretch, while the pair of back-to-back overtime games contributed to minute totals of over 90 for Smart and Brown.
Brown and Derrick White have each given their opinion on the losing streak, spouting out similar sentiments to that of Smart -- who despite the losing streak, claims the vibes are still good in the Celtics locker room.
"It's good. We understand that we haven't been playing to out standards. We're all holding each other accountable."
Boston will have an opportunity to bounce back Wednesday night when it takes on the Portland Trail Blazers at TD Garden. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
