Celtics in ‘toughest stretch’ since he joined Boston

Celtics

“It’s just going going to bring us closer together,” he said.

Derrick White sat at the podium with the hood of his black Celtics sweatshirt on his head.

He rubbed his forehead as he was asked about Boston’s lack of defensive intensity in it’s 123-114 loss to Indiana Sunday night. The loss concluded a rough December for the defending NBA champions.

After winning 16 of their first 19 games, the Celtics began to backslide and finished the month 7-6. They’ve lost four of their last six games, three of them against teams that are at eighth place or lower in the conference standings.

Boston let Tyrese Haliburton (31 points, 7 assists, 11-19 shooting) slash into the paint and carve up its defense like a holiday ham. The Pacers, whom the Celtics demolished by 37 points on Friday night, earned a taste of revenge on their way back to the Midwest.

“I think this might be the toughest stretch that I’ve been on since I’ve been here with the Celtics. It’s just going going to bring us closer together,” White said. “You’ve just got to know that everybody’s got their best interests in mind and just have each other’s back. It’s going to bring us closer. There’s ups-and-downs in every season, so it’s one of those downs and we’ve got to figure it out together.”

The Celtics traded for White in February of 2022. They lost five out of six during mid-December in 2023, dropping contests against Golden State, the Clippers, the Pacers, and two against Orlando. They also lost four out of five that March.

But, White’s point is still clear. These stretches don’t happen often for the Celtics. They didn’t see anything like it last year, and they have to figure out how to stop the slide.

The competition will only get tougher next week. After a New Year’s Eve tilt with the struggling Raptors, the Celtics will hit the road to take on Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves.Then, they’ll travel to Houston and Oklahoma City, who are both top-3 in the West right now. The road trip concludes with a tilt against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

“I’m actually really excited about it,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said of the upcoming stretch. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be great.”

Defensive issues have been at the forefront, particularly with point guards who are adept at getting into the lane.

Ja Morant dropped 32 on the Celtics in a win earlier this month. Tyrese Maxey torched Celtics on Christmas Day, posting 32 points and 12 assists against three turnovers. Haliburton was just the latest guard the Celtics struggled to stay in front of.

“We just have to pay attention to the tendencies, No. 1,” Mazzulla said. “And we have to know where we can help from No. 2 and force more kick outs and more multiple efforts there. But, it starts at the point of attack with our individual defense and it moves to our team defense off the ball where we can help.”

Playing without Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis certainly didn’t help, but it’s not an excuse considering how Boston handled Indiana in the previous game.

“I think communicating,” Jaylen Brown said. “Tendencies are one thing, but it’s a lot different when you’re out there and they’re coming at you full-speed, especially a team like Indiana. I think we’ve got to be more alert and comunicative to help each other. It seems like they got a lot of layups because we weren’t recognizing where we could help from.”

“They didn’t shoot a lot of threes, so that means that they shouldn’t have gotten that many layups,” he added. “We could have protected the basket a little bit better and we didn’t tonight. But, I think we see it. Recognizing where we could be better and and build from there. We’ve got a tough stretch coming.”

Last week, Mazzulla said the Celtics were playing inconsistent basketball. The trend has continued, especially on defense.

“We’ve just got to do a better job,” Mazzulla said. “We’ve got to do a better job coaching defense, we’ve got to do a better job in our individual defense, we’ve got to do a better job in our team defense.”

White said he is not concerned about this Celtics group, which is just a game in front of the third-place Knicks.

“Just trust the character in the locker room,” White said. “I know the type of guys that are in that locker room and those are the type of guys that I want to go to war with. So, I’m confident in that.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.