Before today’s game, which would completely make his point, Kendrick Perkins told reporters his Celtics were bored by the regular season. (WEEI’s Green Street)

“It’s different because I think guys are really anxious to get to the playoffs,” he said. “You have your veteran guys, Sheed, KG, you could tell that this regular season really don’t excite them, seriously. Even with Paul and Ray, you still have to go out here and compete, and it’s not an excuse for losing but you can just tell guys just want to get to the crunch time, get to the playoffs.” [...]

“Even like the Atlanta series, when they swept us, we took it to heart but it wasn’t like a big deal like how everyone else tried to make it,” Perkins admitted. “I don’t know if that’s a bad thing but it’s just like we come into games focused and we’re not trying to lose games but you can see that sometimes maybe we do get bored with the process and we can’t do that.

It certainly is a bad thing, Perk.  When you get swept by a team, you should take it personally.  You should want revenge.  You should want to obliterate them.  The way NOT to react to being destroyed is to be completely indifferent to losing, as the Celtics seem to be.

Perk then spoke about the difference between this season and 2008.

“That first year we kept harping on trying to get that best record so we could have home court advantage through playoffs. I think now guys are [realize] last year we won a couple of games on the road, we won a lot more on the road this year, our road record is pretty decent and guys are comfortable and guys are really like we don’t care where we fall in the playoffs let’s just play so I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or good thing. I do hate losing, whether it’s the regular season or playoffs.” [...]

“After the Cleveland game, I never got a bad vibe from the team, period,” he said. “Guys said what they had to say about why we lost but one thing about this is we’re always together. There’s never guys straying apart. Guys always stick together, whether we lose or win so that’s the good thing about our team.

“We’re always consistent on how we act we with each other. We never overreact to a loss or anything somebody may write about us. We always stick together. I guess that’s where ‘Ubuntu’ comes in.

It’s time to want to kick some ass, Celts.  You’ve been humiliated enough that you should have some sort of spark, and maybe it’s time that guys get mad at each other.  Throw some punches at each other, get the frustration out, and then play together once you get on the court.

A spark is missing, and Ubuntu alone isn’t enough to turn things around.