The Celtics lost to the best team in the NBA Tuesday night. Normally, there is no shame in such a result, particularly considering it punctuated a long West Coast road trip.
But it was how the Celtics limped away from their 122-108 loss to the Jazz which made their lot in life a bit uncomfortable.
Brad Stevens' team is returning home sitting at 12-11, carrying back-to-back losses thanks to the Suns and Utah. The latest defeat was due in large part to Donavan Mitchell's 36 points 36 minutes, along with the Celtics' folding when it mattered most.
In a season of ups and downs for this Celts team, things are settling into some uncomfortable certainty: They will be good thanks to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but not good enough thanks to everybody else.
Here is a wake-up call: They are sitting just two games in the loss column out of living life as the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed.
There is simply not enough help for the Big 2, with the next-best option Kemba Walker continuing to wallow. This time around the Celtics' No. 3 scoring option finished with seven points in 30 minutes.
Yes, Daniel Theis scored 15 points, serving as the only Celtics' player other than Tatum and Brown to hit double-figures. But the center represents the kind of hit-and-miss existence an elite team simply can't rely on.
Rookie Payton Pritchard still seems hesitant after his knee injury (3 points in 15 minutes), while Jeff Teague -- once thought to be a key addition for Danny Ainge -- logged just three minutes.
Marcus Smart -- who remains out with a calf injury -- would have helped, especially on the defensive end. But his existence is the kind of complement that shouldn't be a priority for these Celtics.
If you believe reports, Ainge isn't blind to the Celtics' plight, aggressively looking around for solutions.
This we do know: Something needs to be done. The Jazz' wake-up call was the ultimate reminder of that.
