Seven ways the Celtics can snap out of their month-long funk originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics opened the 2024-25 season by winning 19 of their first 23 games, putting the team on a 68-win pace as of early December. Many scoffed at the notion of a championship hangover.
But some tiny cracks quickly spread. The Celtics have stumbled to a 9-8 mark over their last 17 games, culminating with some of their most unsightly basketball over the past week against the Pelicans and Raptors.
Sixty percent of Boston’s starting lineup is in an extended shooting slump. Opponents seem far too comfortable against a Celtics defense that lacks the intensity and focus that it routinely displayed during last season’s title run. Watching the Cavaliers and Thunder race away at the top of each conference has only accentuated Boston’s struggles.
So, here are seven ways the Celtics can get back on track. Any combination of these items could help steady a Boston team desperate for more consistency:
1. D-White shakes his nasty shooting slump
Derrick White was steamrolling toward All-Star consideration when he injured his right foot in late November and missed a game on December 1. He hasn’t quite been himself in the aftermath.
White’s 3-point percentage is down to 27.5 percent in January, and you can see him hanging his head with each triple that clangs off back iron. After ranking second in the NBA in plus/minus last season at +619, White has been a minus in his last four games, including a staggering minus-29 in Toronto, where he was pulled early in the first and fourth quarters.
White sometimes feels like Boston’s secret sauce, and the value of his typically steady play is accentuated when he goes into a rare funk. He desperately needs to see some shots fall.
2. Corner office renovation
Jrue Holiday shot a blistering 60.4 percent (55 of 91) on corner 3-pointers last season. At the midpoint of the 2024-25 campaign, he’s plummeted to 27 percent (17 of 63).
Holiday helped the Celtics shoot an NBA-best 43.6 percent on corner 3-pointers last season, and Boston now ranks 18th overall at 37.3 percent, per Cleaning the Glass tracking.
Water has to find its level for Holiday — and the rest of Boston’s corner shooters.
3. Brown puts focus back on All-Defense quest
Shooting slumps, while maddening, are inevitable. Defensive intensity shouldn’t wane as often. But right now Jaylen Brown is struggling to find consistency on both ends.
Opponents are shooting 50 percent against Brown in January, or 4.4 percent above expected output. That’s a notable leap after he held opponents to 2.8 percent below expected over 28 games to close out 2024.
Brown is far from alone with defensive slippage. Holiday is allowing opponents to shoot 51.8 percent, or a regulars-worst 5.3 percent higher than expected output in January.
The Celtics are struggling at the point of attack and need everyone to be a bit more locked in. Brown, having repeatedly stated his goal to be considered for All-Defense, needs to lead that charge to get re-centered.
4. Hauser goes from ‘back woes’ to ‘he’s back’
Sam Hauser has battled back issues since the start of the season. In 12 games since returning from a two-game absence in late December, Hauser is shooting just 36.5 percent on 4.3 3-point attempts per game — this after shooting 42.4 percent on 5.9 3-pointers per game last season.
Hauser’s shooting is vital to the success of sub lineups, and he simply hasn’t looked himself. His minutes are way down lately, too, averaging just 14.5 minutes per game over his last six appearances.
5. Take care of home
The Celtics are a baffling 14-7 at home this season. That’s already more losses at TD Garden than they had all of last season, playoffs included.
It’s invoking PTSD from the 2022-23 campaign, when Boston lost six playoff games on its home turf, including Game 7 against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics made winning in Boston a priority last year, and need to do the same the rest of the way this year.
6. Starts with the starters
Boston’s preferred starting five played its 10th game of the season in Toronto. That group now owns an impossibly low net rating of minus-11.8 in 147 minutes.
Of the 33 five-man lineups with at least 130 minutes played this season, Boston’s starting five ranks 32nd in net rating. That group has been outscored by 40 points in its floor time, including a minus-12 night in Toronto.
The gruesome game log:
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Individual slumps are contributing greatly to the struggles of that group as a whole. Consider this: Over the last 14 games, Kristaps Porzingis has started to find his own groove. But his net rating differential in that span is a staggering and team-worst minus-24.7.
While he’s doing his part to lift that starting group, the slumps from some of his most common running mates are hindering his on-court numbers. He’s the least of the issues lately, but the numbers hammer home the need for that group to find its mojo.
7. Fighting through it
Despite their consistency woes, the Celtics’ numbers are still solid over the last 14 games. Juiced by a lopsided win over Toronto on New Year’s Eve, the Celtics still rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. They improbably have the fourth best net rating (+6.4) since December 19, as only the Thunder, Cavaliers, and Rockets have been better.
And yet it’s undeniable that the team has not played consistently enough.
There’s a danger in oversimplifying the Celtics’ rocky play, but it’s jarring just how different the 3-point splits are from last season. Boston is missing more 3s while opponents are making more. The Celtics have long struggled to maintain the necessary defensive intensity when shots are not falling, and we wonder how different things might look if this team simply gets back to making perimeter shots more often.
Again, there’s no one-stop solution here. But winning the 3-point math goes a long way toward this team’s success considering the way the roster is constructed.
Porzingis noted the team isn’t playing with any of the personality it showed last season. The Celtics need to find that joy again. Because they’ve become a maddening watch without it.
Panic mode hasn’t been activated, but there is a month’s worth of data showing this team is in a roster-wide funk. Whether shots start falling again or not, players need to figure out how to crank the focus and intensity on a team plodding along like it’s running in winter snow.
