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Isaiah Thomas: Celtics have lost physical presence

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

Frustration is mounting among the Celtics along with the losses.

The Washington Wizards buried their bitter Boston rivals Tuesday with a commanding 123-108 victory at the Verizon Center. That represented the Celtics' third straight loss and left them searching for answers.

Isaiah Thomas says they lack the physical presence they hung their hat on in recent seasons.

"I remember last year, dudes didn't like playing against us," Thomas told Jay King of MassLive.com. "Even after games, my friends on different teams would be like, 'Man, you guys played way too hard for us. You guys were in us, you guys were physical.' We don't have that presence anymore. We need to get it back."

Most of the slippage has come on the defensive side of the ball. Last year's team struggled to score, but boasted the fourth-best defense in the league. This year's Celtics put up buckets, but their 22nd-ranked defense can't stop anyone.

Head coach Brad Stevens echoed the sentiments of his star point guard.

"We just don't have enough impact on the ball," Stevens said. "That's the bottom line. We just don't impact the ball enough, and I think that's something that has been a strength of ours at times in the past. But for whatever reason we're not doing that enough."

Boston's defensive slippage results from several factors. First, Thomas is playing the most minutes of his career, and while the diminutive playmaker is vital to their offense, the 5-foot-9 guard is among the worst defenders at his position. Defense-first players like Amir Johnson and Jae Crowder have both taken a few steps back. Most crucially, though, the perimeter defense is worse. Boston thrived last season by forcing turnovers, but they've slipped from second to league average in opponent turnovers.

Marcus Smart, perhaps the team's best defender, admitted the Celtics haven't played up to their capabilities on defense this year.

"As a team, we have not (played with toughness)," Smart said. "Everybody on this team has had moments where we haven't been up to par. Last year, we were a team where guys hated to play against. This year, everybody wants to play us because we're not doing everything that we used to do in the past on the defensive end."

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