Brad Stevens. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Sunday was a tough day for Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens.
First, his old Butler Bulldogs went out and lost in the second-round of the N-C-A-A Tournament to Purdue in a 76-73 nail-biter.
Then, his current Celtics blew an early eight-point lead in New Orleans, before getting blown out 108-89.
That's losses in three of four for the injury-ravaged Green. They're without Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown for now, and likely will be without Marcus Smart, Gordon Hayward, or Daniel Theis for the duration, so the coach knows offense will be hard to come by down the stretch.
"I thought we were hanging on by a thread there at halftime, for whatever reason I thought we looked a step slow," he said. "We're going to have moments where we struggle to score with this group right now, and we just have to play a more concerted game, a more intentional game than we did."
C's are averaging 100 points their last four games, though one of them featured a 124-point outburst in double-overtime.
Boston sits five games behind Toronto for the top spot in the East with just a dozen to play, but holds a pretty commanding six-game advantage on third-place Indiana.
Life won't get any easier tomorrow when Oklahoma City invades the Garden. Thunder have won six straight and Russell Westbrook has posted triple-doubles in five of them.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman reports