The Celtics’ six-game road swing, which took them to Brooklyn, Toronto, Phoenix, Golden State and Los Angeles, was no masterpiece, though it could have been a lot worse, going 4-2 overall with wins over the Nets, Suns, Raptors and Lakers. While Richard Jefferson stills thinks highly of the Celtics, going as far as to call them one of the better teams he’s seen in recent years, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed by how their trip ended, limping to the finish line with ugly losses to the Warriors and Clippers, followed by a similarly frustrating performance against the Lakers that Boston ultimately won despite gagging up a 20-point, third-quarter lead.
“The Boston Celtics are a great team, they are good. But if they’re going to have the highest of standards, this was a terrible road trip for them,” Jefferson opined on NBA Countdown. “In a three-game stretch, you should be held to a higher standard.”
Jefferson’s ESPN colleague, Zach Lowe, couldn’t let that slide, offended at the suggestion Boston’s road trip was anything less than a success, commending the C’s for their impressive resiliency playing without frontcourt fixtures Robert Williams and Al Horford.
“Richard Jefferson made television history today for being the first person ever to declare a 4-2 road trip over six games a terrible disaster,” said Lowe, adamantly disagreeing with Jefferson’s appraisal of the Celtics’ West Coast adventure. “At Golden State, you may have heard they won the championship last year and are 12-2 at home. Big whoop. You get spanked by the Clippers, that’s fine. Kawhi and PG, that’s a Finals-level team. You have no Horford, no Time Lord. And then you beat the Lakers on the road with Anthony Davis and LeBron James playing a thousand minutes like it’s Game 7 of the Finals. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it’s a win. This is a good road trip. Those losses are excusable.”
As good as they’ve been, the Celtics aren’t immune to the occasional clunker, experiencing the same ebbs and flows that all teams encounter over the course of a long season. Jefferson is holding the Celtics to an incredibly high standard, conveniently ignoring factors like fatigue, injuries, a lack of practice time and the strength of Boston’s recent opponents.
“The Boston Celtics have a chance to be one of the most elite teams that we have seen in a decade. I’ve been on one of those teams. [Kendrick Perkins] has been on one of those teams. This Boston team has the exact same opportunity,” explained Jefferson. “With that opportunity means, when you go to Golden State, you can’t lose that game. Again, I know they’re the defending champions, but you can’t play like that against the Clippers. You can’t be free throws away from losing to the Lakers.”
After racking up the frequent flyer miles, the Celtics are back home for the holidays, playing their next seven games at TD Garden with the Magic, Pacers, Timberwolves, Bucks, Rockets and Clippers all passing through Boston in the coming weeks.
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