BOSTON – Scan the box scores of any NBA team – well, most anyway – and you’re bound to find a game or two where they absolutely got waxed.
Several factors may have come into play, like injuries, schedule (third game in four nights or the fourth in six nights, can be killers) and the most likely of them all – it being just one of those nights when very little goes right.
The Boston Celtics had one of those games on Wednesday as they were thoroughly beaten 130-109 by Oklahoma City.
It was Boston's third straight loss and second in as many nights.
“It’s the NBA,” said Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. “Look around the league. Other than the (Golden State) Warriors and the (San Antonio) Spurs, pretty much everybody’s been through it.”
The Thunder loss serves as a reminder that the Celtics have to play at or near their best when facing an elite team like Oklahoma City.
But it also reaffirms the value in Stevens’ level-headed approach to success as well as failure.
Boston Celtics
“That’s why you never get too high and you never get too low," Stevens said. "You stay the course with what you’re doing. We’re going to have to figure some things out, because we’re playing really good teams and to be candid, the last two nights we’ve gotten exposed pretty good.”
Boston (39-29) has lost three in a row for just the fourth time this season, and that hasn’t happened since early January. The longest losing streak Boston has had this season was four games (Jan. 6-12).
Avery Bradley said the rule of thumb during difficult stretches like this is pretty clear.
“Just staying together,” he said. “We’re going to have games like this. We have to stay together and make sure that we’re keeping each other positive and focusing on the next game.”
And as the longest-tenured Celtic, the sixth-year guard has no doubts about Boston being able to do just that going forward.