Celtics’ chemistry showing flaws lately

As former Red Sox manager Jimy Williams once said, “There’s a problem, there’s a problem in Boston.”With the Celtics suddenly sputtering (6-4 in their last 10 games), panic has certainly set in. The Celtics, once cruising like a Bentley on South Beach, suddenly look more like a Ford Festiva battling a New England snowstorm. And with a looming matchup against King James and his Cavaliers, there seems to be no rest in sight.Though the Celtics were able to minimize the losses of James Posey and P.J. Brown through the first 30 games, in the past two weeks their absence has been felt, both on and off the court. With the Celtics’ bench struggling, the starters have been forced to log heavy minutes – something not lost on Celtics veteran Brian Scalabrine.”Just take a look at those 72-10 Bulls,” he said. “In an awful lot of those games, Michael Jordan was able to sit out the entire fourth quarter.”If we have learned one thing about the Celtics through their recent struggles, it is that this bench as currently constituted is simply not good enough if the Celtics want to repeat as NBA champions.Of course, the rumor that just won’t go away is that the Celtics eventually will acquire disgruntled Knicks guard Stephon Marbury. For those Celtics fans that think that Danny Ainge will shy away from Marbury because of his decade-old dispute with Kevin Garnett, Garnett himself is now on board, saying, “I think it’s about making the team better. I’m not opposed to Steph, I feel like he’s got a lot of basketball left in him. I know his IQ is very, very high. He is one of the best point guards out there. I wouldn’t be opposed to it; if Steph came to this team, I’m all for that.”Regardless of what Ainge does, the Celtics need to repair their damaged chemistry – something that begins and ends with point guard Rajon Rondo.In recent weeks, teams have begun to attack Rondo, not allowing him to get to the basket and create easy shots for his teammates. Ray Allen called slowing down Rondo “the blueprint” on how to beat the Celtics.”That’s now the blueprint on how to beat us, so we just have to counter (putting) a big guy on Rondo and just forcing him to shoot,” Allen said.Although Rondo has drastically improved his jump shot, he is still a liability from outside 15 feet, and until he becomes a more consistent shooter, the Celtics will have no choice but to entertain the idea of looking for help from outside the organization.