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Boston Celtics early season struggles

Jim Davis/Boston Globe


Monday night, The Boston Celtics lost 128-114 to The Chicago Bulls in one of the worst fourth quarter performance in modern NBA history.

The Celtics started the fourth quarter with a 14-point lead, but The Bulls pulled a 19-2 run to eventually take the lead and outscored the Celtics 39-11 in the final quarter to turn a being down 14 points into a 14 point win (Boston lead 103-89 entering the 4th quarter).

It's the 1st time in the shot-clock era that a team lost by 14+ points after leading by 14+ entering the 4th quarter.

DeMar DeRozan led The Bulls with 37 points on 15-20 shooting. This win puts Chicago at 6-1 to start the season.

Along with struggling on the offensive end, The Celtics didn't record a single defensive rebound in the 4th quarter.

The Celtics loss puts them at 2-5 to start the season — their worst start in 15 years (2006-07 season).

Celtics guard Marcus Smart made remarks in his postgame interview following the loss that sparked a lot of talks in NBA media.

"There's only so much I can do without the ball in my hands. I'm just standing in the corner," Smart said.

"… Every team knows we're trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen. Every team is programmed and studied to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody's scouting report is to make those guys pass the ball. They don't want to pass the ball."

It will be interesting to see if Monday night’s loss as well as Smart’s comments sparks something for The Celtics as they move forward to face The Magic in Orlando Wednesday night.