Danny Ainge: Celtics are inconsistent

Danny Ainge talked with Steve Bulpett of the Herald about the state of the Celtics to this point. He had a predictable assessment of the team. In a word: “inconsistent.”

He went on to say:

“There’s been a few games here and there when we’ve played really well,” Ainge said. “It’s like you take one step forward and take a step backward, and then you take two steps forward and take another step back.

“But I feel like there’s a lot of good things I see on our team. I feel like we need to be healthy. We need to be right. And I feel like our minds are getting in the right place, and that’s a good thing. [Against Denver], we weren’t thinking, but it wasn’t a lack of effort. It was falling asleep on some plays or not paying attention, but it wasn’t some deep-rooted issues that can’t be fixed. We could have played well and still lost against a team like Denver. They’re a very good team.”

Hard to argue with any of that. This team has been doing the step-forward-step-back cha cha all year long.

The moments of brilliance make the moments of complete failure all the more frustrating. It would be one thing if this team was consistently bad or mediocre. That wouldn’t be preferred, but at least it would be explainable. This team is all over the map.

Chaulk some of that up to youth. This team does rely heavily upon young players. Jaylen Brown blew some pretty bad defensive assignments against Denver and Jayson Tatum can’t seem to make a layup, never mind a three. Terry Rozier is settling down some, but he’s still good for at least one questionable early shot clock 3 point attempt per game.

On the other hand, there’s a large sampling of veteran presence on this roster as well. From Al Horford to Marcus Morris to Marcus Smart to Aron Baynes to the lead man himself Kyrie Irving. In theory these guys have gone through the growing pains and should be providing a steadying effect on the roster.

Ainge goes on to say that he doesn’t believe that teams can “flip a switch” but he also says that he’s “encouraged” and that the season isn’t over yet. Well, it gets late early around here so I hope the lights come on and stay on in the near future or the long term future will start to feel more dark than before.