What’s actually wrong with the Boston Celtics, and how can they fix it?
Can the Boston Celtics turn their season around? With an 8-8 record in their last 16 games, the Celtics face mounting pressure to reclaim their winning form. Host John Karalis, alongside guest Tom Westerholm, dives into the team’s recent struggles, analyzing the impact of poor shooting and inconsistent effort. They explore how star players like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can influence the Celtics’ performance and discuss the importance of three-point shooting and offensive execution under coach Joe Mazzulla.
The conversation also touches on statistical insights, comparing the Celtics’ performance in wins versus losses, and the mental aspects affecting team morale. With a focus on the Boston Celtics’ path forward, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Tune in to discover how the Celtics can overcome their current slump and what it will take to get back on track.
2:15 Celtics’ recent struggles
7:06 Importance of maintaining momentum
12:22 Atlanta Hawks loss
16:01 Shooting woes
24:43 Pace analysis
32:58 Conclusion
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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.
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39 Comments
First my Celtics uncle lmao love the podcast !!
Let’s figure it out
☘️☘️👊
Celtics love all the way from las vegas 🫡
I still believe… but this team def gives me heart palpitations.🫣🤪
whole team needs to focus on shooting drills. if those threes start to fall like last season then many other problems will disappear.
cs were hungry now there not… don't like our chances …hope i'm wrong
jaylen too emotional.
They are suffering from the Ice Trae flu. Doctors have not found a cure!
i think a vet from another team needs to come to the celtics and get them going right
Thanks Tom and John
Boston needs to get their core of their team back together first. Every game somebody is out. The other things that need to gets to fixed is to make teams pay from the mid-range down to the post, box out and limit the turnovers.
John, I don’t think most of the comment section is worried with the basketball theory. As you mentioned last time, lack of attention to detail is laziness. I’m curious about why JB suddenly fell of the map and is reverting back to his tunnel vision basketball. He’s like a horse with blinders on, just aggressively dribbling and turning it over.
I’m genuinely curious about the mental state of this team, is something afoot? Who knows.
I love what Tom said about them missing in bunches and how they all just start trying to fix what’s broken by engaging in chucking up more misses. This is especially frustrating in games when it’s obvious that Tatum can get to the hole at will. And speaking of JT, he needs to drown out all the noise and not respond to any more comments, tweets, podcasts or anything else ffs. Play ball and ignore the nonsense. Thank you John & Tom ☘️🔒
Celtics are 8-8 over a 16-game stretch. That's like a month of games. Seems pretty mediocre. Someone is paying too much God Damned money for this roster to play .500 ball for an entire month in the middle of the season. The 27-27 record under Udoka is ancient history. Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis never played for Udoka. A Celtics team with Holiday and Porzingis on it has lost 8 of the last 16. You guys are just poo pooing the slump away and it's a bigger deal than that. You're not even a little worried? Do you guys know what the word "hubris" means? Hubris. That's you guys right now.
Start hunting for the best shot instead of searching. Big difference as one is purposeful, forceful. Leaving an imprint on the game with energy induced behind each pass with precision, attacking a mismatch because we all know they can't handle you. What they are doing now is regular season mumbo jumbo "yea this will suffice" huck n chuck, lacking the meticulous attention to detail between each possession. Not conducive for good bball but plenty of time to correct. Hopefully they start rounding into that true killer whale offense cause this more akin to Maine shrimp (delicious don't get me wrong but they put the cap on that quota quite some time ago) ☘︎🔒
Tell Sam, missing his dunk didn’t change anything, because the dude stepped out of bounds in the rebound so Celtics kept their possession and we score two point seconds later with free throws. Nothing was cost.
We never started 21-22 off 27-27. We were 15-15 maybe or in that ballpark. If you check up “Celtics 3/1/22” you’ll see we were 37-27.
2:27 taking a shot at Udoka when his team is second in the west and one game behind us is not the own you think it is in big 2025.
Less pickleball… 😜
Can't hit jumpers. Slow on defense, avoiding contact. Seems like they have tired legs.
Brown needs to be benched. Can't stay in front of a quicker, skilled players. Dribbled, dribbled and stopped the offense flow, only tried to bully his way to the basketball, with a stronger player on him, he got blocked or missed the shot. -9 vs Hawk team worst, 24 points for 27 shots.
Man, we all right. It’s like 100+ games so we’re gonna lose sometimes but damn if we lose people Trippin and if we win people tripping Celtics 2025 stand-up.☝🏾👍🏾
The Celtics have become complacent. Can’t be bothered to try and win. If the shots fall they will relax and win by 8-10
If not they will keep
It close but whatever happens is fine.
Just weren’t hitting shots.
That 2021-22 season was an adventure Ime Udoka is a defenses coach but is not good at running the offense. And I think he could’ve did better in the 2022 NBA Finals by making adjustments instead of sticking to playing drop coverage.
Those who think the Celtics will lose every game sound stupid
do you think the celtics struggle in close games because they take lower percentage shots, ie 3s? i noticed they had lots of good open 3s in crunch time, but the hawks were getting to floaters and other higher percentage shots. maybe im wrong but it seems that in close game scenarios this tends to happen to the celtics
Udoka team was no where as good as this team though. We cant just be jacking up 3s hoping they go in
The Celtics coach lose the Hawks game by miss used of the centers and leaving the starters too long in the Magic game. This would not be the case if one of these men were available. The starters were out of gas, confused in clutch time.
That's on Joe. Bad coaching and miss calculation.
Diehard fan,
Eddy Charles in Mirebalais, Haiti
Founder of the Mirebalais Basketball Operation ( MBO )
Yes, there is something wrong when all 3 of our point guards are generating 1 or 2 assists in 30+ minutes of court time. They need to put the ball back in their hands to create good shot opportunities for others. Having the guards stationed in the corners while the Js are in iso ball mode on top of the key or chucking 3 pointers it does not provide for a diversified offense. We have an offensively talented starting lineup that is not used totally or properly. The increasing reliance on the 3 ball along with tunnel vision iso ball just goes so far. Move the ball, break down the defense to make that angle pass, pocket ball pass or timely lob pass. Ball movement keeps all in rhythm and opens up good shot opportunities. A healthy offense will spill over to an energized defense.
Why does everyone seem to forget that they scored two points on the Sam Hauser dunk possession? They got the ball back and Pritchard scored on that possession, which they would not have gotten had Sam made the dunk. That play is completely irrelevant.
Thanks John and Tom. Hi Bear 😊We need a win today against GS.
Thank you for saying that about the coaching. More people beed to hear that. Coaching can always get better, it’s not the problem.
John is correct that they need to start making shots.Yes, they need to hit some 3s, but they also need to get better at finishing- they seem pretty bad at layups
With each loss we keep moving the bar to justify the terrible basketball being played.
They need to play through Tatum on some Luka/Harden type of offense. Enough is enough until we can find our shot. Defenses are NOT respecting Jaylen/White/Jrue's 3 ball
Hitting shots requires relaxed, smooth movement and the tiniest difference is magnified further the farther the shot, so that tiny bit of tightness that sets in when things start going wrong really affects the Celtics.
No i disagree, all thous lapses including bad shooting is result of not being locked in for 48 and not taking regular season seriously.
I try to count strong and weak contests on both ends, we need to generate more open looks and contest harder on d. That plus make shots