Two days after Jaylen Brown’s 44 points powered the Celtics to a blowout win over the Pacers, Indiana delivered payback. Boston’s defense fell apart, with Jayson Tatum looking unengaged and the team following suit in one of their worst defensive showings this season! The Pacers sliced through Boston’s defense with ease, driving to the rim like the Celtics were handing out free passes.

Miscommunication in pick-and-roll coverage led to mismatches that Myles Turner exploited, while one-on-one defense was a disaster, with Pacers players blowing past defenders on nearly every possession. This game highlighted Boston’s ongoing defensive struggles, as individual performances have taken a noticeable dip this season. The lack of effort and cohesion allowed Indiana to capitalize repeatedly, leaving Celtics fans questioning their team’s intensity.

Even Tatum and Brown had to admit their defensive failures. JT addressed the Celtics’ defensive struggles, stressing the need to refocus on fundamentals. He stated, “We just gotta get back to the basics, man……throughout a season, things can get off track, and as professionals, we got to lock back in, get back to our identity which, you know, very confident that we can. It’s just a matter of about doing it.”

Tatum also expressed frustration with their current state, saying, “We’re not happy where we’re at. We all have to understand we played a part in where we’re at right now. We just got to be better.” 

His partner in crime Brown also said, “We got to get back to emphasizing the defensive side of the ball. Just kind of slipped over the last few games, our intensity.”

JB acknowledged that opponents have been more physical, something the Celtics need to match. “Teams are pressing us, being physical with us. We got to do some of the same stuff back to them,” he added. While the team has shown flashes of strong defense, Brown admitted it hasn’t been enough to sustain success.

After this loss, the Celtics find themselves clinging to a slim lead over the Knicks, just one game ahead of the East’s No. 2 seed. And if they want to go back-to-back, they need their “identity” back.

Jayson Tatum and the C’s want their identity as ‘one of the best defensive teams’ back

Back in their 2023-24 championship season, the Celtics were defensive juggernauts, holding the NBA’s second-best defensive rating at 110.6. This season, though, they’ve dropped to eighth with a 110.1 rating over 32 games—a noticeable shift for a team that prided itself on lockdown defense.

After Sunday’s loss, head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t mince words about their struggles. “When you’re not playing well defensively, that’s on everybody,” he said. “That’s on the staff, it’s on the coaches, it’s on the players. Just got to continue to work at it.”

It’s refreshing to hear accountability from a coach, but you can’t help wondering if the team feels the same urgency.

The Celtics showed flashes of their old form during Friday’s blowout win against Indiana, leaving fans hopeful. But Sunday’s rematch crushed that optimism when the Pacers shot a blistering 52.9 percent and racked up 66 points in the paint. It felt like Boston was rolling out the red carpet to the rim.

Losing four of their last six games has exposed cracks in their defensive foundation. The Celtics, once defined by their relentless defense, now seem to be searching for that spark again.

Let’s be real—fans aren’t just frustrated, they’re worried!

Can this team fix its defensive issues before the season gets away from them? What do you say?