Boston Celtics: Does Brad Stevens think his Cs HC days are numbered?

Sunday afternoon’s loss to the Miami Heat put the Boston Celtics two full games back in race for the #6 seed. At this point, it looks quite unlikely that the Cs will avoid the postseason play-in tournament to qualify for the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The first half of today’s loss was unacceptable. In fact, it was historically bad.

In giving up 79 points, Boston made the wrong kind of history after digging a hole far too deep to dig out of.

A very 2020-21 kind of franchise record was set, per NBC Sports Boston’s Max Lederman:

The loss is one that puts the season in perspective. Just a season ago, the only team the Boston Celtics seemed incapable of beating was the Miami Heat.

After undergoing a facelift in the offseason, the new-look Cs knocked off Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks in the regular season and seemed ready to compete in the event they met again after the Bucks treated them to a gentleman’s sweep in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Boston knocked off the other two primary contenders going into the season (Toronto and Philadelphia) in their Lake Buena Vista bubble postseason run and had swept the #4-seeded Indiana Pacers the previous postseason.

Then, Jayson Tatum got stuffed at the rim in game one of the Eastern Conference finals by Bam Adebayo, and the Heat went on to take the Eastern Conference crown, their fifth in ten years. Today, in a must-win game, after Adebayo trolled Tatum with a shirt depicting that moment arriving in Boston on Saturday, Miami continued the theme of beating the Celtics when the lights are brightest.

Though there was a spirited Boston Celtics comeback, this one may as well have been decided when the Heat ran up the score to 26 at halftime. It’s almost fitting that this team won’t even earn a postseason slot if they cannot rise any further up the standings since they barely feel like a playoff team to begin with.

Brad Stevens has not been in denial about his team’s play this season. He recently told the team that during halftime of a deficit that Boston overcame that he never heard the team get booed in the TD Garden when they didn’t deserve it.

He knows they are underperforming, and to his credit, he is owning up to it. Stevens was hard on himself after the 130-124 loss on Sunday afternoon:

Perhaps Brad knows that his days as a “Masshole” could be numbered. During this downer of a pandemic-stricken season, Stevens has received interest from several different blue blood Power 5 college basketball programs.

Indiana–who ended up hiring New York Knicks assistant Mike Woodson–and UNC, who went with Hubert Davis, both had eyes on Stevens to be their next head coach. Given his past success with putting Butler on the map, finding a new job isn’t much of a stress for Stevens if he can’t pull the Boston Celtics out of their current rut.

Given the incessant locker-room troubles the team has experienced the past few seasons, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Danny Ainge find a new leading locker-room voice. Everyone remembers when Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris were running amuck behind the scenes in 2018-19, but the 2020 Eastern Conference finals run didn’t lack drama either.

Stevens may understand that he could end up being the scapegoat for the underachieving, and he is likely at peace with knowing that there are options if this is the end of the line.