The Boston Celtics’ latest loss drew plenty of criticism for head coach Brad Stevens.
The Boston Celtics are not in a good place right now. After Sunday’s disappointing loss to the 6-17 Washington Wizards dropped the Celtics to 13-13 overall, they’ve now lost four of their last five games and seven of their last 10.
Coming off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance just a few months ago, this isn’t the season anyone expected for this team, and head coach Brad Stevens is starting to come under fire for it.
After getting blown out by the Wizards in a 104-91 throttling that was much worse than the final score indicated, Stevens caught plenty of heat from NBA Twitter.
Brad Stevens and the Celtics are disappointing everyone
For the most part, there was plenty of valid Stevens criticism to go around:
Midway through the third, wheels hadn't come off completely yet, then this happened 📼⤵️ Tatum misses layup, doesn't get back. Brad takes timeout. Next four Boston possessions:
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) February 14, 2021
* Turnover
* Turnover
* Turnover
* Turnover
Washington lead ballooned to 24. pic.twitter.com/cqHk8g1Lvm
My greatest Brad Stevens criticism is his inability to capitalize on role players' strengths. When Timelord is in the game, hammer the high screen and roll. When Nesmith is in, run him around screens. Too stagnant, too repetitive.
— Matt Esposito (@MattEsposito_) February 14, 2021
Brad Stevens is looking for solid bench players. pic.twitter.com/gRA2irgNF4
— Celtics Turkey (@Celtics_Tr) February 9, 2021
However, beyond the actual basketball analysis and the fact that Boston has struggled with its roster depth this season, there was plenty more criticism to go around.
Some of it centered on how bad the Celtics have looked lately:
Watching the Celtics the last few weeks pic.twitter.com/rymDUnCAba
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) February 14, 2021
JUST FOUND THE CELTICS PANIC BUTTON IN MY GARAGE NOW POUNDING IT WITH BOTH FISTS
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) February 14, 2021
How to watch the Celtics: pic.twitter.com/xASdmDMPqw
— DIEHARD CELTS FAN ☘️☘️ (@PlayoffJays_) February 14, 2021
A lot of it centered on Boston’s head coach himself. Many wondered what’s become of Stevens, who was once thought of as one of the premier coaches in the NBA:
Yo...what happened to Brad Stevens?
— Michael Sykes, II (@MikeDSykes) February 14, 2021
Some pointed out that while Stevens is still a good coach, he has to shoulder some of the responsibility for how lackadaisical the Celts have looked lately:
Yup, Brad Stevens has to share the blame here. I think he’s a great coach, but something is off lately.
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) February 14, 2021
No the Celtics should not fire Brad Stevens
— Green Machine (@Greenmachine17_) February 14, 2021
Yes he should absolutely be taking some blame and heat right now
Both can be true
And, of course, there were plenty of jokes to go around about Stevens and how he needs to be fired:
everyone looking at brad stevens after the game pic.twitter.com/1xTQvdiPwf
— tyrese (@londonstheory) February 14, 2021
Brad Stevens trying to explain why the Boston Celtics look like shit this season pic.twitter.com/r7ABCIHh0C
— Rich (@UptownDCRich) February 14, 2021
Finally, it doesn’t get much better than trolling one of the all-time worst debates to ever grace NBA Twitter:
Here’s hoping the Celtics figure it out soon, because it doesn’t look like their fans can responsibly handle much more of this.