Boston Celtics In Season Tournament Loss, What Does It Mean?

By: Steve Atkinson 

What the Celtics loss in the In Season Tournament mean against the Pacers? I question their willingness to win in May and June. They don’t have a talent problem but when the game is on the line can Tatum or Brown step up and be the one to carry them? We have yet to see it. In a single elimination game, the Celtics lost to the Pacers while Milwaukee beat the Knicks. Milwaukee plays Thursday while Boston plays Friday against the Knicks.

The In-Season Tournament doesn’t mean as much as the NBA Finals but it gets people engaged in regular-season basketball. The Celtics should be there in Vegas playing Thursday against Milwaukee instead of Friday. Even Tatum seemed pissed about it.

 “I wanted to f—ing go to Vegas. I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to go to Vegas. So yeah, I’m mad. Next year, I guess,” said Tatum.

When the tournament started the weird court didn’t go over too well with the players. Jaylen Brown got hurt and other players from different teams got hurt on the court.

“The court was just slippery all game. As players, we’re all here for the In-Season Tournament because it’s going to generate revenue, excitement, competition, etcetera,” Brown, a vice president of the players’ union, said after the game. “But we’ve got to make sure the floor is safe to play on. We can’t put our players out there and risk their health

Would the Celtics beat the Pacers in a seven-game series? Probably as the Pacers were celebrating like they won the NBA Finals the other night. But it’s good the crowd was into it and there were odds in a game in the middle of December.

The Celtics have a pretty what should be an easy schedule going forward. Game against the Knicks then two games against the Cavs and Magic. They should go on a little win streak here. Even if they don’t have Porzingis their bench is pretty solid. I might question their toughness though when it comes to playoff time.

I don’t think Mazzulla was  too fond of the tournament anyway

“So, it allows you to win at something,” Mazzulla said. “But, you know like when you live in Boston and it’s Tuesday afternoon and it’s raining and nobody wants to go to work but we still have to go to practice? I want to win that day as much as I want to win the In-Season Tournament.” The process was winning, finding small ways to try to win,” Mazzulla said. “Those things are cool. Not that I don’t think the In-Season Tournament is cool or fun, but there’s a process. If you go back to the Orlando game, like, we’re going to rebound just because it’s an In-Season Tournament game?

“I don’t want our guys to have that kind of mindset. We have to rebound every single day. So, if we truly care about the process towards winning, we’ll do it in a preseason game and then in an in-season tournament game, and a regular season game. That’s the mindset you have to create.”