Celtics

“To be honest, it’s just a poor performance from us.”

The Celtics’ recent streak of uninspired performances continued Wednesday night with a loss to the Raptors, who sit 13th in the Eastern Conference standings.

The performance follows a one-point win against the Pelicans, who have the worst record in the Western Conference, and a loss against the Sacramento Kings, in which Domantas Sabonis grabbed 28 rebounds.

The Celtics have been in a shootout for some time now, but the problems appear to extend beyond their strikeout depth from deep.

“I think we played with no spirit and no personality,” center Kristaps Porzingis said. “To be honest, it’s just a poor performance from us. Yes, we just played without personality at the moment.”

Toronto shot just over 50 percent from the field and cruised to a 110-97 victory over the defending champions. Raptors center Jakob Poeltl shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the field. RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes combined for 17 assists. Toronto beat Boston 56:45.

It was a performance that quickly went downhill after a promising start. Boston was outscored in every quarter except the first quarter.

“I think we have to look at ourselves individually,” Porzingis said. “Where can we improve, what can we do better – how do we fit in, is this us?” Do we feel good, mentally locked up? Try to fix some of our problems.”

Jayson Tatum, who posted his third straight double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds, 5-15 shooting) in the loss, was open about the Celtics’ struggles.

“We’re going through some (expletives) right now,” Tatum said. “It’s tough, but we said after the game that we have to get through it together and stick together as best we can.

“Trust each other like we always have and just show your true character,” he added. “We have been through the best of times, we stick together when we go through a crisis where we are not doing our best, and we also have to stick together so that we can stand as balanced and relaxed as possible.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla also said the Celtics need to stick together after the team’s seventh loss in 14 games.

“Obviously we’re not playing our best basketball,” Mazzulla said. “You can’t expect things to always be easy, and you can’t get tired of expecting things to always go your way, because they don’t. We just have to make sure we find a way to enjoy the challenge, but make sure we do it together.”

There is still a lot of work ahead of us to get this difficult phase back under control.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Porzingis said. “Every team has ups and downs. Tonight feels like a dirty word right now and we played bad basketball.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.