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Celtics lose to Bulls, 120-102. What DIDN'T go wrong?

 Post game, Marcus Smart said that he felt the Celtics took their foot off the gas, resulting in a 120-102 loss to the Bulls. That's a fine synopsis. Here are some specifics. I'll start with the Celtics shot chart

How about 48 3-point attempts from Boston and only 21 by the Bulls. Looks like the reincarnation of a past bad habit by The Green. Here's the shot chart for Chicago:

Rebounding is mostly just effort. How did the Celtics fare there? Not good - 45 boards for Boston, 60 for the Bulls.

How about free throw attempts? Looks like 12 (yes, 12) for the Celtics, 29 for Chicago. Lack of effort, once again.

Marcus got it right. After the first quarter, the Boston Celtics didn't run out of gas - they took their foot off it! The discussion will be about the officiating and the ejections of both Coach Joe Mazzulla and Grant Williams, but in the end, The Celtics simply got complacent with their first-quarter lead and eased up on their defense - while getting lazy on the offensive end. 

Too early in the season for complacency. Smart was right. This was a test that failed. Time to respond.






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