As if being embarrassed in consecutive games wasn't bad enough, there was a brief period of time on Nov. 9 when the Boston Celtics looked up to find they had the same 3-4 record as the Brooklyn Nets. Some Celtics fans half-jokingly wondered if Boston could decline the 2017 first-round pick swap with the Nets if things went completely awry this season.
Two weeks later, the Atlantic Division looks a lot more like most anticipated. The Celtics huddled for a players-only meeting in the aftermath of consecutive blowout losses to the Nuggets and Wizards and pledged to go back to playing like the scrappy bunch of overachievers that made them so endearing the past two seasons.