Coach Ime Udoka hints Celtics' collapses due to lack of leadership

For the fourth time this season, the Boston Celtics lost a game they led by at least 15 points. None of the previous losses were as bad as the 25-point lead blown against the New York Knicks on Thursday.

"Repetitive result that keeps happening," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said after the game, via Chris Greham of Forbes. "We need some leadership. Somebody that can calm us down."

Boston led by 20 with less than five minutes left in the third quarter against the Knicks, but went on to lose 108-105. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics didn't score a point for a three-minute, 21-second stretch with less than six minutes left.

"We get rattled a lot, especially when we're facing adversity," said the Celtics' Robert Williams, via Grenham.

The Celtics haven't named team captains since 2014, but Udoka said in October that he'd bring back the tradition by naming two. That never came to fruition, and Udoka said in November that the idea was "probably in the rear view at this point." Still, he listed Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford and Marcus Smart as leaders on the team.