National Basketball Association

Something is amiss with the Boston Celtics, Bayless says

Updated Mar. 7, 2023 6:20 p.m. ET

A month ago, the Boston Celtics were unequivocally the best team in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 41-16 and a roster that looked destined to return to the NBA Finals.

They had a regal dynamic duo in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, several tough bigs to man the paint inside, all complemented by stellar outside shooting. And while their defense had taken a step back from a season ago, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and company were certainly holding their own on that side of the ball.

Joe Mazzulla's crew was steamrolling through the East, but a month later, their stronghold on the conference has lost its stability.

The squad has now blown three straight double-digit leads, including a 28-point edge over Brooklyn at home (just the second time in over 100 games that a team has lost a 27-point lead this season), a double-overtime heartbreaker against New York, and another overtime thriller at Cleveland in which Grant Williams missed a pair of go-ahead free throws.

It's a stark aberration from their norm, and in Skip Bayless' mind, Boston's camp has reason to be concerned.

"Something is amiss with Boston," Bayless declared Tuesday on "Undisputed."

"A week ago, they almost blew a 25-point lead to these same Cavaliers. Then they turned around two nights later … at home to Brooklyn without Kevin Durant and Kyrie [Irving] and James Harden, they blew a 28-point lead and lost by 10 at home. Then they lost — what was it? — a 15-point lead to the Knicks, lost in double-overtime, and then last night, 14-point lead in the third quarter. … You had them 14 down, mid third-quarter."

Boston was without Tatum, Al Horford and Robert Williams vs. Cleveland, but nonetheless, Bayless believes Jaylen Brown deserves some criticism for his showing.

"I love Jaylen Brown … I fear him more when I'm betting against Boston than I do Jayson Tatum," he said. "And Jaylen put up nice numbers last night, he scored 32, but he was 1-of-7 from 3. He had 13 rebounds, he had nine assists, but the 1-of-7 won't cut it, because you need to make more big shots, and in the fourth quarter, he scored five total points and missed both of his 3s. Well you can't do it, because they're looking to you as the solo star to make a shot."

Tatum is currently day-to-day with a left knee contusion, so he'll likely return sooner rather than later. But this Boston squad is reeling, and they've struggled lately both with and without him in the lineup. Something is amiss with them, and with just over a month until the postseason, now is not the time to begin faltering.

Can they reclaim their identity?

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