The Celtics made their offseason roster shakeup look seamless while getting off to a 5-0 start, but reality has set in with back-to-back losses, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The offense appeared out of sorts through much of Wednesday night’s battle with Philadelphia for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. A late run gave Boston a chance to tie the game on a three-point attempt by Kristaps Porzingis with five seconds left, but he said he jumped too high on the shot and it only grazed the rim.
“It’s gonna take time,” Porzingis said of the process of becoming a cohesive team. “But honestly we do have a lot of good moments, a lot of good moments where we find each other, where we hit each other with some good passes and start to reach each other more and more.”
Porzingis, who added that he’s looking forward to seeing how the team responds to adversity, has brought a lot of new options to the offense, Terada observes. His outside shooting creates more space for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and his post-up skills allow him to take advantage of smaller defenders. Everything is a work in progress as the Celtics try to incorporate Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, but their offense still ranks among the top 10 in the league.
“It’s early, beginning of the season,” Porzingis said. “It’s honestly easy to play with those guys, very selfless. Now being up close I really feel that and see that from them. So, they just want to win. They want to do the right thing, and that makes it easy for everybody.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Boston is counting on Payton Pritchard to take over as the backup point guard after trading Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon, but Pritchard has struggled badly with his shot in the early part of the season, notes Brian Robb of MassLive. He’s connecting at just 23.5% from the field and 15% from three-point range through the first seven games, and Robb wonders if he’s starting to lose confidence in his shot.
- The Celtics welcomed Derrick White back on Wednesday after he missed two straight games for the birth of his second child, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. White missed the morning shootaround, but joined the team in time for the game and scored 19 points in 38 minutes. “I’m excited, excited to get back to the team,” he said. “Watching these last two games on TV wasn’t the most fun I’ve had, but it’s good to get back here with the guys.”
- Brown is taking a business-like approach to the new in-season tournament, Himmelsbach adds. Boston will play its first game Friday night in Brooklyn and has upcoming tournament contests with Toronto, Orlando and Chicago. “I wouldn’t choose the word excited, but ready,” Brown said. “We’ll be ready. If there’s basketball to be played, our group will be ready.”