Celtics Won’t Attempt ‘Impossible’; Looking To ‘Stay Connected’

It’s still fairly evident that the Boston Celtics are the best team in the NBA, but it’s also impossible to ignore they’ve stumbled a bit down the stretch.

Is it a stretch to use the word stumble? No, not when you lose back-to-back games to the Atlanta Hawks.

Hawks guard Dejounte Murray was tremendous Thursday, sure, but there’s no real excuse for how things have gone down recently. The Celtics blew a 30-point lead Monday, and when everyone expected a bounce-back, they completely fell flat while seeing an old habit come back to bite them.

Boston’s had a rough week, and the local response has been understandably negative.

The C’s don’t intend on letting that effect them whatsoever, though.

“It’s impossible to ignore the noise, but it’s more about where our team and our locker room keeps its focus,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said Saturday, per video provided by NBC Sports Boston. “You can have a bunch of negativity around you, but I think one of the biggest strengths of this team is regardless of results or circumstances, the guys have stayed connected.

“It’s not even like you have to stay positive, you just gotta stay true. That’s the most important thing. You can’t fake positivity.”

The Celtics have every right to be frustrated with themselves, and it’s kind of refreshing hearing that they are. Boston’s two brightest stars have spent the last few years making poor late-game decisions, and when it comes up prior to the most pressure-filled postseason run in recent franchise history, a pair of losses to a bad team are going to hurt.

Mazzulla believes his team is true to itself, and what the Celtics are is one of the most talented teams the modern NBA has seen. Can they put it all together for a title run? If the answer is yes, they probably won’t have a tough time regaining that positivity.