BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics continued their downward trending ways on Sunday with a 115-104 loss to the Houston Rockets.
With the loss, Boston (38-26) has now dropped five of its last six games, and seven of the last 10 games.
Teams that struggle as much as they have lately are prone to trying to shake things up a bit, maybe go with a lineup change or a potential lineup tweak.
“Obviously, we’ll look at everything,” said Celtics Brad Stevens. “We’ve been looking at everything, after every game, every night. Every minute you wake up, you’re thinking about that. There’s things that are helpful in that and things that are not helpful.”
Making too radical a lineup change at this point could cause even greater fractures within a team whose cracks have seemingly grown as we get deeper into the season.
In addition, it’s not like you can point to one or two starters as being the reason for the team’s most recent struggles.
☘️ ROCKETS 115, CELTICS 104
- Highlights: C's lose for 5th time in 6 games
- Gorman: 'I see no indication they even know where the switch is'
- Stars, Studs & Duds: Celtics get smoked (again)
While some of Boston’s starters have had their share of problems impacting the game in a positive way lately, they still rank among the NBA’s best starting five-man units in several categories.
Boston Celtics
But listening to Stevens talk, you get a sense that he’s reluctant to make a change to the starting lineup right now.
“If it’s the root of your issues, then a small tweak can help,” Stevens said. “I’m not sure that’s our root.”
Boston is averaging 28.1 points per game in the first quarter, which ranks 13th in the NBA. The Celtics' defense has allowed 25.3 points per game to be scored in the first quarter which is the third-fewest points allowed in the first in the league.
Raising even more speculation that a potential lineup change might be in the works, was how little Stevens used Marcus Morris on Sunday.
The veteran wing averages 27.8 minutes per game this season, but was limited to just under 18 minutes per game.
On Sunday, Morris went scoreless for the first time this season while missing all three of his shots from the field.
Stevens explained his decision to keep Morris on the sideline for the remaining 17 or so minutes of play.
“It was nothing to do with Marcus per se,” Stevens said. “But then we were down by 30. I wanted to see (Aron) Baynes and Al (Horford) play together a little bit. I wanted to see that pairing and I wanted to get (Daniel) Theis a chance to play.”
When asked about possible lineup change again, Stevens added, “If I thought who we start the game with was going to make a huge difference or give us the spark we need. Then we’ll continue to consider it and do it and maybe just try it for the hell of it, right? I don’t usually fly by the seat of my pants like that. I like to think and have a thoughtful process; just keep plugging away.”
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.