Will winning cure-all for the Boston Celtics?
I’m not sure what the record is for the quickest “players-only” meeting to be held, but just a couple of weeks into the season should be near the top. That’s something the Boston Celtics needed, according to reports, just a few days ago.
After a 2-5 start to the season, a “players-only” meeting was called by the team. According to reports, “it wasn’t terribly productive.” It’s not clear what that means exactly, just that perhaps after the meeting there was clearly still some tension in the air.
Before the “players-only,” Marcus Smart suggested, essentially, that the Celtics – namely Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown – needed to play more team basketball at the end of games.
In response, after the team’s win over the Orlando Magic, Brown said that perhaps that comment wasn’t needed. Sandwiched in-between both of those “interesting” comments was the “players-only” meeting.
Of course, all of this will seem like a moot point if the Celtics can reel off a few wins together to get the season back on track. After all, especially in sports, winning tends to cure all and silent the critics.
One thing that it won’t do is solve a team’s problems. It could push the problems down the road, but eventually, they’re going to come to light. Losing also tends to bring to light problems that had been hiding in the wins.
It’s still unclear whether the Celtics are just frustrated with their slow start to the season or if there truly are some issues that the team needs to work out. But there’s no question that there is, at the very least, some tension in the locker room.
That is very well evident by the comments that have been made over the last few days by the leaders of the team. Boston is too talented to remain on this 3-5 pace for the remainder of the season.
They’ll win plenty more games and will likely make the playoffs as a top 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. But sooner or later, they’re going to have to put all these tensions to bed if they want to be a true contender in the East.
Winning may help ease the tensions momentarily, but I’m not sure if it’s something that will be able to cure-all.