Why can't the Boston Celtics protect their home floor?
The Boston Celtics are better on the road than they are in their own building, a concerning development for a basketball team many considered to have the depth, coaching and stylistic flexibility to challenge for a top-four seed in the postseason.
But after falling to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night in Boston, the Celtics are now the only team with a losing record in their own building that'd qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today.
They're 9-10 at TD Garden, a head-scratching mark that's further confounding when you notice their road record: 10-6.
The Boston Herald has more on this strange phenomenon:
“I don’t know either, honestly,” said Isaiah Thomas, who made just one of his first 15 shots last night and then hit his last five. “The crowd’s there. They give us our energy. We just can’t put a full 48 minutes together, for whatever reason. But we have to figure it out. The good thing about the NBA (is) you’ve got to have a short memory, whether good or bad. We’ve got another one tomorrow that we need to get. “I mean, the road is good for you, just because you’re all you got, and it’s like you against the world. But like Coach always says, ‘We’ve got to protect home. Somehow, some way.’ These fans are too loyal and too good for us to be giving away games at the Garden. I mean, there’s no excuses, so we’ve got to figure it out.”
The Celtics are 5-5 over their last 10 games and that mark is a solid indication of where they're at right now. Boston has depth, a solid defense and a great coach, but they struggle to manufacture points when games get tight down the stretch, and it's crippling their win percentage.
A trade—or several—feels imminent.
