Analyst: The Boston Celtics have become ‘a chore to watch’

Those covering the Boston Celtics are turning on the team after watching big lead after big lead get blown in the closing moments. NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg is one of these aforementioned beat reporters.

Forsberg went as far as to say the team was a chore to watch. “The Boston Celtics have become a chore to watch,” he prefaced before saying, “The same team that fought through early season adversity to sit atop the NBA with an insanely likable cast of characters now routinely fumbles away double-digit leads and saves some of its most maddening play for key late-game moments.”

Part of the problem, as Forsberg notes, is that the Cs were the polar opposite of their current lead-blowing selves last season under Ime Udoka. “Maybe this is all the more jarring because, a year ago, the Celtics were the ones making a furious second-half surge and carrying their best basketball into the postseason,” he wrote.

Did the Boston Celtics extend Joe Mazzulla too early?

Unfortunately, a very real concern within the Celtics fanbase is that the franchise extended Joe Mazzulla prematurely. Mazzulla came in as head coach right before training camp due to Udoka’s shocking suspension and led the team to a 41-17 record. Since the extension, Boston has gone 8-6.

There are several factors for those struggles, chief among them the injuries suffered to key members of the rotation. Robert Williams III has missed the last nine games, and the Cs are 4-5 during those contests. Sure, they survived the early season without “The Timelord,” but Mazzulla had installed the double-big lineup to great success, so being without it hurts.

Still, great teams find a way to win, and right now, the Celtics only find ways to lose. If Boston doesn’t figure out a way to fix this, the narrative surrounding Mazzulla’s extension will be a polarizing one for as long as he is in charge.