Celtics 
Kristaps Porzings Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP
January 16, 2025 | 6:00 AM
The Celtics’ recent stretch of uninspired performances continued Wednesday night with a loss to the Raptors, who are 13th in the Eastern Conference standings.
The performance comes on the heels of a one-point victory against the Pelicans, who have the worst record in the Western Conference, and a loss to the Sacramento Kings in which Domantas Sabonis grabbed 28 rebounds.
The Celtics have been in an extended shooting funk, but the problems appear to go beyond their streakiness from deep.
“I think we played with no spirit, no personality,” center Kristaps Porzingis said. “It’s just, like, a weak performance from us honestly. Yeah, we just played with no personality right now.”
Toronto shot just over 50 percent from the field as it breezed to a 110-97 victory over the defending champs. Raptors’ center Jakob Poeltl was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field. RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes combined for 17 assists. Toronto out-rebounded Boston 56-45.
It was a performance that quickly went downhill after a promising start. Boston was outscored in every quarter except the first.
“I think we have to individually look at ourselves,” Porzingis said. “Where we can improve, what we can do better -how we fit, are we this? Are we feeling good, locked in mentally? Try to fix some of the stuff we’ve got going on.”
Jayson Tatum, who posted his third-straight double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds, 5-15 shooting) in the loss, was candid about the Celtics’ struggles.
“We’re going through some [expletive] right now,” Tatum said. “It’s tough, but we said after the game that we’ve got to go through it together and as best as we can stick together.
“Trust in one another as we always have and just show your true character,” he added. “We’ve been through it at the best of times, stick together when we’re going through a slump where we’re not playing our best and we’ve got to stick together as well so we can just stand even keeled and mellow as possible.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla also said the Celtics need to stick together after the team’s seventh loss in 14 games.
“Obviously we’re not playing our best basketball,” Mazzulla said. “You can’t expect things to always be easy and you can’t have enough of an expectation that it’s always supposed to go your way because it’s not. We just have to make sure we find a way to enjoy the challenge, but make sure we do it together.”
There is plenty of work that lies ahead to get this bad stretch turned around.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Porzingis said. “Every team has ups and downs. It’s just tonight feels like [expletive] right now and we played some bad basketball.”
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