The Boston Celtics were understandably frustrated after blowing a 19-point second-half lead in a 128-114 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, and Marcus Smart expressed some of that emotion during his postgame press conference.
Smart had some criticism of the offense, specifically the struggles in the fourth quarter as the C's were outscored 39-11 over the final 12 minutes en route to the their third consecutive loss.
The Celtics need to move the ball a lot more in these clutch situations at the end of games rather than settling for isolation plays that often result in tough, contested shots. Basically, the Celtics are too predictable late in the fourth quarter trying to get shots for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. This was essentially one of the points Smart was making with his comments.
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Former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins didn't think Smart should have made these comments publicly, and he explained why on NBC Sports Boston's "Celtics Postgame Live."
Check out Smart's comments and Perkins' reaction in the video below:
The Celtics need to make adjustments on both ends of the court quickly because they have a tough three-game road trip coming up.
The first game is Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic, an inferior team compared to the Celtics but a group that plays really hard. The last two games of the trip are against a pair of playoff teams in the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks.
Boston Celtics
The C's have lost seven of their last 12 games versus the Heat, including the playoffs, over the last two years. The Mavericks are always a tough opponent because of superstar point guard Luka Doncic.
It's still too early for the Celtics to panic -- only seven games of 82 have been played. But there's no question that this team's troubles closing games late in the fourth quarter are a concern.