As another sub-par performance by the Boston Celtics brought into focus another disappointing defeat, Kemba Walker dribbled out the final seconds of Boston’s last possession which led to a shot-clock violation.
It was a fitting end to the Celtics’ 107-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings which capped off a Kings sweep of the season series.
And no, this isn’t your Chris Webber-Vlade Divac-Bobby Jackson Kings that were, you know, really good.
I couldn’t shake that image of Walker letting the final seconds tick away in a game that Boston had no shot at that point of winning.
But at that point, it wasn’t about winning and losing.
You play until there’s no time left to play, regardless of what the outcome will be.
That fight-until-the-bitter-end spirit that we are accustomed to seeing from Brad Stevens-coached teams, has dissipated before our very eyes.
This team doesn’t fight through adversity; it folds.
This team doesn’t buckle up when tough times arrive; it buckles under.
There is a level of mental toughness that the best teams have, and this team?
They don’t have it, and have no signs of getting it anytime soon internally or externally if you believe the words spoken lately by Danny Ainge, the man who put this team together.
He has prepared the Green Team, card-carrying Massholes for the reality that no help will be coming by the trade deadline if it doesn’t have the kind of short and long-term benefits for the franchise that he is always wanting to have whenever he does a trade.
We just saw one of the team’s primary targets, Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, deliver a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds which was a painful reminder of how too often what the Celtics want and need is so close and yet far away at the same time.
During the Kings’ loss, an Eastern Conference scout and I were exchanging text messages. I asked him about the Celtics and his response I feel is an opinion that many have about the Green Team these days.