“I guess it just kind of snowballs on you,” reserve Gordon Hayward said in the aftermath of the Celtics’ loss to the Clippers over the weekend. “It’s the NBA, man. It’s how it works.” He was, of course, referring to the way the match swung all the way to the opposite end after they appeared to have it in hand against competition that just traded away five key players. They led by 28 at one point in the first half and started the third quarter 21 up, but ultimately could not survive the sidelining of top scorer and playmaker Kyrie Irving.
Still, the outcome could not have been anything but a disappointment to fans who rightly figured the decimated Clippers were ripe for the picking. And having been party to a last-second heartbreaker against the hated Lakers in the previous outing, they had Casey to believe that the Celtics would be our for blood. Instead, they were treated to an up-and-down performance that reflected the confounding nature of their favorites. At any given set-to and, even more tellingly, within any given set-to, the green and white would prove susceptible to showing a debilitating Hyde side.
To be sure, Hayward’s quote can be viewed the other way as well. Yesterday, the Celtics took the measure of the vaunted Sixers, who had run roughshod over the Nuggets and Lakers following the arrival of erstwhile Clippers top dog Tobias Harris. It didn’t matter that Irving remained decommissioned due to a bum knee. Never mind that the hosts sported a heady 23-6 slate at the Wells Fargo Center. They were engaged from the get-go, and, in the crunch, proved their capacity to deliver on both ends of the court.
Perhaps it was no coincidence that Hayward, who was celebrated last year as a vital free-agent pickup but who then suffered a freak injury that stunted his ascent as an All-Star, came up big under pressure. Nonetheless, it bears noting that the Celtics displayed much of the joy and esprit de corps that characterized their run to the 2018 East Finals, and that starter Marcus Morris declared to be missing of late. Moving forward, the hope is that they can finally summon the consistency to stay true to potential. They are, after all, the Celtics. Nothing less is expected, and nothing less will suffice.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
