In one second-half sequence, the Celtics tried catching the Pacers off guard with a zone defense. Al Horford dipped into the paint on defense, then realized he needed to be on the left wing to contest Bennedict Mathurin.
By the time he rushed toward Mathurin, it was too late. The Pacers swingman already had drained a 3-pointer. It was an example of the poor execution and constant miscommunication plaguing the Celtics on defense. A one-time elite defense is getting gashed by dribble penetration, and the Pacers were shooting as high as 64 percent in the third quarter.
Couple that with the Celtics’ disturbing reliance on the 3-pointer and the Celtics are mired in a slump, evidenced by their 123-114 loss to Indiana on Sunday at TD Garden.
The Pacers shot 52.9 percent from the field and scored 66 points in the paint, many created by the artistry of Tyrese Haliburton, who scored 31 points despite hitting just one 3-pointer. He repeatedly dived into the paint and either converted on a floater or got fouled. The Celtics committed 22 personal fouls and put the Pacers on the line 27 times, some a byproduct of lazy defense and others on bad fouls with the Pacers in the bonus.
“We’ve got to be more alert,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said. “We’ve got to communicate and help each other. It seems like they got a lot of layups because we weren’t recognizing where we can help from. They didn’t shoot a lot of threes, so that means they shouldn’t have gotten so many layups. We could have protected the basket a little bit better.”
The league is catching up to the Celtics. Opponents are no longer daunted by their 3-point barrage. The Celtics attempted 54 3-pointers and made just 16. They were 6 for 27 in the second half and 1 for 12 in the fourth quarter, when they were buried by a 4:06 scoreless skid in which they missed all five 3-point attempts.
The Pacers won despite making just nine 3-pointers because they were the more physical team. They attacked the paint. They drew fouls. They played with more cohesion and consistency. After losing by 37 points Friday, they were determined to be the more aggressive and passionate team and the Celtics allowed it to happen.
Something is different this season. The Celtics are 12-6 at home after going 37-4 at TD Garden last season. Opposing teams are relentlessly attacking the paint, especially when Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis are out. But the Celtics can’t use injury as an excuse.
They have to get accustomed to Porzingis missing about 35 percent of the games. And Holiday, in his 16th season, can longer be counted on to be the team’s primary shutdown defender. They need better team defense.
The Celtics are either slow to get back on defense, even after made baskets, miscommunicating, or just aren’t giving enough effort. A team that was top five in defensive rating has slipped in December, and the Celtics are fully aware they are being pushed around.
“We’ve got to get back to emphasizing the defensive side of the ball,” Brown said. “It’s kind of slipped, our intensity. Teams are pressuring us, they’re being physical with us and we’ve got to do some of the same stuff back to them.”
The Celtics fully realized they would be the hunted after winning the championship. And they won with a relentless offensive style that besieged teams with 3-pointers while using ball pressure and physicality on defense. It was the perfect combination.
But they haven’t resembled that team since the beginning of December. They are 7-6 this month in what was projected as a chance to build wins with 10 of 14 games in Boston. Instead, Boston is just one game ahead of the hard-charging Knicks and 4½ behind the first-place Cavaliers.
The Celtics are an average basketball team right now, unsure how they’ll perform from game to game. They coasted to a 15-point halftime lead on Dec. 23 in Orlando and then collapsed in the second half. They fell apart in the fourth quarter on Christmas Day against the 76ers and then again against the Pacers.
When threes aren’t falling, the Celtics’ offense sputters and they have no second option to score. They are becoming too one-dimensional.
“I would say there was probably situationally in the fourth quarter when we cut it to (2), there were probably two or three [threes] that I thought we could have gotten a better (shot),” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “But I thought we drove the ball and the ball touched the paint. If [the threes] are wide open, you’ve got to shoot them. But you can generate them from forcing more turnovers and getting out in transition and we’ve got to get stops to do it.”
The lack of defense is tied to the offensive struggles, and when the Celtics get behind because they can’t get stops, they try to rally with 3-pointers. When those aren’t falling, they’re a flawed team. But that doesn’t mean they can’t win when they are erratic from beyond the arc.
They just have to rely on defense, being connected, communicating, contesting, and occasionally knocking a driver on their butt to send a message. The Celtics aren’t offering much resistance these days, too reliant on their offense, not focused enough on doing the dirty work, and that makes them an average team.
