“I told them that you’re going to get your ass kicked tonight if you come with that focus in the game”, says an angry Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka after their loss against the Washington Wizards

For a squad that for a fact has multiple All-Star players, the Boston Celtics are off to a mixed start to the 2021-22 NBA campaign. Head coach Ime Udoka recently said in an interview that he had earlier spotted problems related to his players’ overall focus even before the Celtics’ recent loss against the Washington Wizards.

The Boston Celtics have got off to a 2-2 start after posting comfortable victories against the Houston Rockets and the Charlotte Hornets. The team looked vastly different in their latest game against the Wizards, with both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown registering poor shooting nights.

The Boston Celtics’ problems lies at the defensive end of the court. They have registered a defensive rating of 112.8 so far, which is the eighth worst in the league. In four games so far, the Boston Celtics do not have the excuse with respect to injuries that they did last year, with coach Ime Udoka also blaming a lack of focus for their recent losses.

According to the Athletic, the Celtics’ head coach was able to spot a lack of focus as compared to his stock players’ training before the previous matches. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown finished the last game against the Hornets with 41 and 30 points each. However, Udoka was angry with his players hours before the game when he saw his team lacking focus during a shooting drill. He said:

“I told them that you’re going to get your ass kicked tonight if you come with that focus in the game. for three quarters we played the same way.”

The Boston Celtics started their games quickly, even during the opening day loss to the Toronto Raptors. But against the Washington Wizards, they were trailing by 10 points at the end of the first half. A fightback in the third quarter saw them cut the lead by nine points. That went in vain as Spencer Dinwiddie added 11 points in the third quarter for the Wizards, which included four free throws.

Despite their fluency in attack, the Celtics have looked unsettled in defense so far despite having a range of elite players capable of guarding top attackers. The likes of Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown are all elite defenders. A lack of intensity cost the Celtics against the Wizards as they gave too much attention to Bradley Beal, something the likes of Montrezl Harrel and Spencer Dinwiddie exploited.

It appears to be only a matter of time before the Boston Celtics improve on the defensive end of the court. Head coach Ime Udoka had this to say:

“Things we’ve been working on and harping on just didn’t show tonight. We have a guy standing right at the opposite block and he doesn’t take a step and just watches somebody lay it up. So, lack of effort and focus. Help defense as a team was very poor tonight.”

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The Boston Celtics will now take on the Wizards again in a repeat fixture on Saturday.