When the Boston Celtics allowed the Philadelphia 76ers to ruin their Christmas Day festivities at TD Garden it signaled a red flag.
It’s been a while, but the Celtics have encountered their first major challenge amid the journey of defending their title. Boston’s loss to Philadelphia marked two in a row, the first time the reigning champions have suffered consecutive defeats thus far, and to top it all off, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla could be working with an undermanned unit entering Friday night’s matchup with the Indiana Pacers.
The Celtics listed starters Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday as questionable in Thursday’s injury report, further adding to the ongoing slump.
Holiday warmed up before Wednesday night’s battle with the Sixers, but remained seated on the sidelines with a right shoulder impingement injury. Meanwhile, Porzingis, who did suit up, didn’t return after halftime with a left ankle sprain and didn’t speak with reporters following Boston’s 118-114 loss.
“I haven’t heard anything yet,” Mazzulla said regarding Porzingis postgame. “… I noticed that he played through (the injury). I asked him how he was — he said he was okay. He got re-evaluated at halftime, I haven’t heard anything yet.”
Boston’s back-to-back losses have demonstrated a greater issue for the Celtics at hand. They’ve gone 5-5 over their last 10, have endured a drastic downfall from the second-best 3-point shooting team in October at 40.7% to currently the 15th-best at 36.5%, and have slipped back into the habit of underperforming against lowly competition. Therefore, Boston’s Eastern Conference finals matchup with Indiana will serve as its biggest test, so far, this season.
