The saying goes, “Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.” The Celtics are living that reality right now. The 114:97 loss to the Sacramento Kings is the most recent example.

They saw this come back in June. As with any reigning champion, one of her toughest battles has always been a battle against human nature. It’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they are the hunted – each team doing their best to eliminate the champions. On the other hand, the Celtics were idle. Their execution, concentration and performance were inconsistent, which is not a good sign when every opponent is giving their best night in and night out.

Give credit to the kings. They are 6-1 under Doug Christie and have been playing inspired basketball this season since Mike Brown’s firing.

But an outshot of 102-84 (47-41 from three), an outrebound of 56-43 (16-8 offensively) and the loss of the turnover battle (15-9) make two things clear: First, the opponent is working hard at it , to stay in control The margins on which the Celtics were able to build their success a season ago. And second, the Celtics let their teams hang around by allowing them to dominate the same spacing.

Yes, there are factors at play – key players have been in and out of the lineup, and they’re still trying to regain chemistry. In addition, her shooting technique was poor. The Celtics shot just 34 of 84 (40.5%) from the field and 11 of 41 (26.8%) from three on Friday night. It was the sixth time in the last 15 games that they shot 30% or less from three games – and they’ve lost all six.

When the Celtics don’t hit their threes, their offense stalls, and of course missed shots put pressure on their defense.

“If you want to get 20% from three, you have to do a lot of other things really, really, really well,” Joe Mazzulla said. “It puts pressure on the defense throughout the game. We have to be better at that.”

But this problem goes beyond just the Kings losing. After a 19-4 start, Boston has experienced a delayed championship hangover. They have a record of 8-7 in their last 15 games, with five of those losses coming at home – which exceeds the total number of home losses for all of last season (4).

The chronic lack of concentration that plagued the Celtics for years and seemingly disappeared last season has returned. The most glaring example was when a defensive breakdown left Malik Monk open for a three-pointer in the fourth quarter. Although Monk missed, the rebound sailed over three Celtics and landed straight into the hands of the unguarded Domantas Sabonis, who immediately sank the shot from deep. The mark prompted an immediate timeout from a frustrated Joe Mazzulla as there were boos from the disappointed crowd.

After the game, Mazzulla admitted the lack of effort.

“I don’t think it’s a long-term effort,” he said. “You hold a team like that to a 19-point quarter and a 23-point quarter, and you have two 21-point quarters; I think that just gets to you. Whether it’s about shotmaking. Whether it’s the execution. Whether it’s about the distance. It takes a toll on you.”

These are not last year’s Celtics, and that’s where comparisons should stop. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still a very good team. But as expected, the focus, intensity and effort are simply not the same this season. Despite this, they are still on pace for 58 wins, have the third-best record in the league, and rank second in offense, seventh in defense and third in net rating.

“We have to continue to try to figure it out as a group,” Jaylen Brown said. “It’s part of the journey. It might not be as nice as some people would like, but I believe in this team, I believe in these guys and I think we’ll be fine.”

But winning a championship and fighting against human nature does not grant immunity. At some point in the near future, actions will have to speak louder than words. The team has to show on the pitch that they understand it. The regular season is about developing habits — and suffice it to say, the habits we’ve seen over the last month won’t be enough to get them back to the NBA Finals.

“Some (sloppy) plays just happen. It’s not that we don’t try. said Kristaps Porzingis. “We will get over it. We’ll be fine. We’ll find out. I’m telling you, I’m confident we’ll get back on our feet. We’re just not having the best moment as a team. It’s completely normal. I don’t have to be negative. We’ll find out.”

We’ve seen flashes of it. This team is capable of reaching the dominant level of last season, but they have to work for it. Inconsistency cannot become their identity.