"Too cool for school": Former WNBA player accuses Boston Celtics of lacking leadership and a step up guy
The Boston Celtics suffered a 114-105 loss to the LA Lakers on Thursday. The Lakers were without LeBron James and Anthony Davis but still punished the Celtics, who appeared well off the pace.
Leading into the game, James told reporters that the only message he could give his teammates was to ask them “to do their jobs.” The four-time MVP didn’t play, but it was easy to see the impact his words had. Without two of their best players, the Lakers proved that they were not going to wilt.
Former WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike, who now works as an analyst for ESPN, had this to say about the Boston Celtics’ performance:
“There’s such a thing as being too chill. At times I feel like the Celtics are maybe a little bit too cool for school. … They didn’t show up. They were a little bit too casual early on. Someone has to get mad, someone has to put the foot down. My question is, who is going to be that person when it matters most?”
Ogwumike added that the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will fill up the stat sheet almost every night. However, when it came to leadership, she wondered who would be the one to step up.
Over the last three to four years, questions have arisen over the Boston Celtics' leadership. In the Celtics’ loss to the Golden State Warriors during the 2022 NBA Finals, Draymond Green said the Cs lack a true leader. Green insisted that Al Horford, the veteran in Boston’s roster, is nowhere near being the leader that LeBron James is.
Horford remains with the Celtics, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have taken on much bigger roles and responsibilities. However, in a nationally televised game against their historic rivals, Boston looked leaderless and lethargic. James, meanwhile, was busy directing, coaching and encouraging his teammates on the sidelines.
Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla chalked up the loss to an off-night
Some NBA observers thought Joe Mazzulla lost the Boston Celtics locker room in the playoffs. When the Celtics went 0-3 against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, a few of them mentioned how the players were not responding to the coach.
This season, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have publicly appreciated Mazzulla’s coaching and leadership. If he is the leader the team’s superstars point him out to be, then he had a big part in Boston’s inept outing against the Lakers.
Mazzulla had this to say to the media after the loss:
“It just happens. Stretches of bad basketball happen. We can't sit here and act like we're too entitled for it to happen to us. It happens. And it's a matter of how we respond to it and how we work through it.”
The Boston Celtics were ripped on social media by fans, who felt they threw in the towel. Tatum and Brown didn’t shoot well and had off-nights. But like Chiney Ogwumike said, they played like they were “too cool for school.”