Through the last few weeks I’ve been trying to remain positive and optimistic about the Boston Celtics and their shooting slump, but there are a bit more issues coming up that should raise some eyebrows.

The Celtics got blown out by the Lakers Thursday, 117-96, which was a very bad sign. Sure, the C’s are on a west coast trip and deserve a bit of grace, but the game before they barely beat the Clippers. Not to mention bad losses to the Hawks and Raptors. And the C’s lost to the Thunder as well.

One of the biggest issues is the supporting cast surrounding Jayson Tatum. Last night, the Celtics played their true starting five: Kristaps Porzingis, Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday. That was only the 13th time this season they’ve all started on the same floor this season. That alone causes concern for the future of the season as they all struggle to stay healthy. Aside from that, Porzingis and Tatum seem to be the ones taking advantage of matchups. Brown appears to not be as aggressive in his game. It seems like the muscles he built over the offseason have hindered his game offensively. He’s not shooting as good, and taking advantage of his mismatches.

Derrick White is a player who’s taken a step back in his role this season. The guy that played on the Olympic team this summer (Tatum barely played), and could average 20 points on any other team, has reduced his role to a catch-and-shoot player that plays solid defense. Whereas, White could be a much better player that would help the Celtics, but instead he’s just jacking up shots and running up the floor.

Jrue Holiday doesn’t seem completely healthy. He’s a tough guy that’s probably not going to take too many games off. But shooting-wise he’s not nearly efficient enough considering the amount of three-pointers the C’s are accustomed to putting up. Defensively, he’s not the same shutdown guy that was giving Luka Doncic problems last season in the finals.

Or, the simple fact of all this could be the Celtics are simply not making shots. Tatum began hitting jumpers in the second half against the Lakers, but eventually cooled off. Payton Pritchard, who’s still in the mix for Sixth Man of the Year, has also had his ups and downs this season. Sam Hauser has been in and out the lineup and struggles to find his shot at times as well. Blaming all of this on shooting would be silly, the Celtics are also just not getting it done defensively. There was a point in the game last night when Joe Mazzulla had the team play zone defense because they were just getting ripped.

This has also been a rough patch of the season for a team that won the championship last season. Teams with a high goal are looking to get through the regular season healthy and ready for the playoffs, so it’s possible that all of this is just an overreaction–but I don’t think that’s the case. Every western conference team has to fight hard every night or they’ll get knocked down a couple spots in the playoff picture. Throw in the fact that the Celtics are marked off on everyones list when they come to town and the difficulty has increased. Teams aren’t tanking just yet so everyones playing hard.

Not time to hit the red button yet, but a hand is hovering over it.