The Boston Celtics looked out of sync in the second half of Monday's loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and that theme continued in the locker room after the game.
The Celtics blew an 11-point halftime lead at Target Center against a severely underhanded Wolves team, which outscored Boston by 10 in the fourth quarter en route to a 108-103 victory.
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It was an embarrassing loss for the C's, who were down Jayson Tatum and seven other players but still allowed no-names like Jaylen Nowell and Nathan Knight to have career nights. Following the game, veteran big man Al Horford suggested his team needs to do some soul-searching after dropping to 16-18 on the season.
"It doesn’t matter who it is out there. We’re having a hard time with that," Horford told reporters, as seen in the video above. "So it doesn’t matter who the opponent is on the other side. Milwaukee, a really good team, Minnesota, a team that is fighting in the west, but like you said, a bunch of guys out.
"At the end of the day, we kind of have to look in the mirror at ourselves individually and as a team. It’s something that we have to do."
Jaylen Brown didn't seem to think any soul-searching was necessary, however.
Boston Celtics
"Searching and looking in the mirror? Nah. No comment," Brown said when asked what he thought of Horford's comments.
That's not to say Brown was satisfied with Monday's effort; the Celtics All-Star called the defeat "one of our worst losses of the season so far" and took ownership for his team-high six turnovers.
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"A lot of those turnovers came from miscommunications," Brown said. "A lot of those defensive lapses came from miscommunications. That’s just what it comes down to is chemistry and things like that. We didn’t play well today. I didn’t play well today. I let my team down for sure."
Brown clearly was frustrated after the game and may have been caught off-guard when Horford's comments were relayed to him. Still, it's not a great sign that two of Boston's leaders were on different wavelengths after the game, and Brown mentioning chemistry issues is telling.
Injuries and COVID-related absences have prevented the Celtics from improving that chemistry. (Boston had eight players sidelined Monday night, and Brown has already missed 15 games this season.) But the Wolves looked like the better team with a group of players who didn't even know each other, so the C's need to figure out some way to get on the same page, regardless of who's on the court.