The tough start for the Boston Celtics has continued.
On Monday night, the Celtics led by 19 against a strong Bulls squad with just over two minutes left in the third quarter and then at the final buzzer, they were on the wrong end of a 128-114 final score line.
Boston squandered the lead by managing to score just nine points in the fourth quarter while allowing Chicago to score as many as 37. There was some historical context with the fourth-quarter point-differential.
Celtics outscored by 28 in the 4th quarter.
— Micah Adams (@MicahAdams13) November 2, 2021
That’s the most they’ve been outscored in the 4th quarter since 1972.
Only twice in Celtics history have they been outscored by more in the 4th quarter.
This was the 5,875th game in franchise history.
"Stopped playing as hard as we were," Celtics rookie head coach Ime Udoka said. "Started to relax and got cute, careless."
The loss has to be gut-wrenching for the Celtics organisation and their fans. Not only because they were up 19 against a 5-1 Bulls but it signified a continuation of a difficult start to the 2021-22 season.
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A couple of days after losing their season opener at MSG despite getting a career-high 46 points from Jaylen Brown who was coming off just 11 days from battling COVID-19, they got blown out in their home opener by the Toronto Raptors by 32 points.
One of their two wins of their season came against a young and inexperienced Houston Rockets. Their only win of significance to start the season came in overtime against the Charlotte Hornets, who have been off to a hot start.
Jayson Tatum tonight:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 26, 2021
41 PTS
7 REB
8 AST
6 3PT
It’s his 3rd 40/5/5/5 game of his career, the most in Celtics history. pic.twitter.com/SgKD0C5S0F
With this loss, they are 2-5 through seven games, ranking in the bottom third of the league in both offensive and defensive rating.
Can they turn it around? Well, with the talent of players at their disposal, they should, but their next few games don't make things easier for them as they play Miami, Dallas, Milwaukee and Toronto in four of their next five games.
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