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When you think of teams with multiple All-Stars, you think of domination – the Jazz, the Lakers, the Nets. The Celtics have two All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but after Wednesday night’s resounding loss to the Hawks, Boston is in last place in the Atlantic Division.
Team president Danny Ainge, however, is not ready to launch his star tandem under the bus.
“I wish I had some answers for you. You haven’t,” Ainge said Thursday on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “I believe in my players. I love them all individually. I think they have a good future. I just think our team is in a major funk right now.”
Funk might not be a strong enough word to describe Wednesday’s game. After a heartbreaking loss to the Mavericks, the Celtics lost 13 after a quarter and 23 at the half. They allowed the most 3 points in the history of the team.
Brown had 17 points for the Celtics and missed his six attempts by 3 points. Tatum was held 13 points on 4 of 20 shots and was only 1 of 8 at long range.
The Celtics have now lost three games in a row to drop two games under 0.500. They have lost eight of 11 games in total and are away to watch the playoffs.
“Here’s what’s most important about Jaylen and Jayson,” Ainge said. “They’ve been protected before because they’ve had other really good players, veterans around them as they’ve developed – and have gone three out of four in the Eastern Conference. [finals].
“Now it’s on them. Now it’s the stars. And they’ve got the big contracts. And they’ve got the All-Star nods. So the microscope is on them.”
Kemba Walker is one of those veteran All-Stars. After a year-long career at Charlotte, Boston signed him to a four-year, $ 141 million contract before last season. He put up some solid numbers and took some heat on Brown and Tatum.
This year, a knee injury limited him to 16 games. His rating average is his worst in five years and he’s shooting just 37.5% off the ground. The Celtics held him out of Wednesday’s game to avoid a back-to-back, and Boston was strangled.
As he did last week, Ainge says issues with the Celtics concern him more than his young stars or his trainer Brad Stevens.
“It’s a problem for me,” Ainge said. “I say I love my two young guys, they’re not perfect, and they’re learning, and that adversity is part of their growth and development – not intentionally, it’s just the nature of the beast.”
But Ainge said he wasn’t trying to make excuses.
“We play terribly,” he said. “We don’t have a good enough team – in my opinion.”
He added that he’s not looking to make a change for the sake of change, “but I’m looking to do something that will make a difference in our team.”
The Celtics’ first chance to get back on track comes Friday at home against a struggling Pacers team. Then it’s the Wizards resurgent in town on Sunday before games against the Clippers, Raptors and Nets.
Bradley Beal, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden, Kyrie Irving – the Celtics will face plenty of All-Stars and will quickly find out if their duo are up to the task.
“I think they both hold each other accountable,” Ainge said of Brown and Tatum. “You talk about two hard working kids trying to improve themselves. And it’s a very frustrating time for them.”
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