We need to play with more intensity

After the Boston Celts suffered their worst loss of the season, falling 104-91 on Sunday to the worst-record Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference, Kemba Walker offered a simple diagnosis of the passing of Boston.

“We need to play with more intensity. That’s all. “We are not playing with intensity. We are not playing as hard as we know we can, ”Walker said.

“When they play hard, great things happen now, our performance has not been consistent, so we will continue to study videos, learn from our mistakes and improve,” he added.

The Celtics are 13-13 and are at .500 or worse for the first time this late in the season in six years. The loss to the Wizards was made worse by the fact that it was tied to the setback suffered at home on Friday against the Detroit Pistons, who had been the worst team in the East before Washington, with their victory over Boston, overtake them.

An optimist might try to minimize Friday’s result by being against a rested and fresh opponent, but for Sunday’s defeat there is no excuse. The Wizards went 3-14 this season with a Russell Westbrook in the lineup and in control of the game, particularly in the second half.

Although the Celtics tried to react in garbage time to make the final score more respectable, the Wizards, who entered Sunday’s game in 29th place in the NBA on defense, held a nearly 20-point lead during the second half, while Boston he made two-point shots one after the other.

Walker and Jaylen Brown each scored 25 points and hit 21 of 39 shots from the field to the basket combined and six of 12 triples, but their teammates were unable to make any shots. The rest of the Celtics hit just 12 of 51 shots (23.6 percent) on field goals, including three of 23 3-point attempts.

In a span of about 21 minutes from the middle of the second period to the start of the fourth, Boston had a poor offensive performance that included 13 consecutive misses by all except Walker and Brown.

“It could be,” Brown said when asked if the weekend could be seen as the time the Celtics hit rock bottom. “It is the mentality of all, how we arrive every day and prepare to work.

“If you allow your mindset to hit rock bottom, that’s how it will be. (If) you come to play then that will be shown and today, we were not very good, “he added.

Playing without Marcus Smart, who has been out of action the past two weeks with a strained calf, the Celtics have no depth, particularly at forward, and their lack of scoring ability is exposed.

Other than veteran Payton Pritchard, who has impressed and managed to take a spot in coach Brad Stevens’ rotation, no one on the bench has been able to offer consistency when scoring. Veteran Jeff Teague, who was hired to be Walker’s backup, has played poorly, hitting just 28.6 percent of his two-point shots. He’s been ruled out in the last two games Walker has played.

While Pritchard has quickly earned Stevens’ trust, Boston’s lottery pick Aaron Nesmith has not. He played Sunday and finished with five points and five rebounds in 29 minutes, but has been conspicuously absent from the rotation this season, despite the Celtics needing forwards.

In that sense, Nesmith’s 29 minutes against Washington represents 20 percent of the total time he has spent on the floor throughout the season.

After this weekend, the Celtics, who have lost four of their last five games and seven of the last 10, will aspire to return to playing with their average performance, but things will not be easier with the candidate’s visit on Tuesday. Most Valuable Player Award Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

As Boston takes the next 48 hours to prepare for that game, Stevens said playing hard will be a prerequisite for whoever wants to step on the floor.

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