The Celtics’ locker room emptied quickly after their humbling 114-100 loss to the Hornets on Monday night at TD Garden. The few players who lingered were frustrated, wondering where a night that started with promise had gone so terribly wrong during a disastrous second quarter.
“We just have to fix all the small things that we did tonight,’’ guard Avery Bradley said, “because in the playoffs, you make these same mistakes, you might lose by 40.’’
In the grand scheme, this loss probably will not have a great effect on Boston’s positioning. But coach Brad Stevens has maintained that he is mostly focused on entering the postseason with a rhythm, with some flow.
On Saturday, though, the Celtics were pushed around by the Hawks, and on Monday they were mostly dominated on their home court by the Hornets. The rut is not necessarily reason for alarm, but also it is not something to shrug off, not now.
“You get your butt kicked,’’ Stevens said, “and, you know, do you get back up or not?’’
The Celtics will have one more chance before the playoffs, as they host the Miami Heat on Wednesday. That game appears most essential to clinching home-court advantage in the opening round, but the only certainty is that a loss would leave no chance of that.
The Celtics are now in a tie for fifth place with the Hornets. They are a half-game behind the Heat, who have two games left, and one game behind the Hawks.
There are numerous seeding permutations, but the Celtics won their head-to-head series against both Charlotte and Miami, so if they defeat the Heat on Wednesday, there is a good chance they would clinch the No. 4 seed, regardless of the outcome of Miami’s game against the Pistons on Tuesday. The picture becomes murkier if the Heat beat the Pistons and the Hawks lose to the Wizards, putting a four-way tie in play.
“I do know this,’’ Stevens said, “everything resets after Wednesday.’’
Home-court advantage is important to the Celtics; they entered Monday with an 18-2 record over there last 20 games on the parquet. That burst seemed to indicate that the Celtics could close the regular season with a flourish, especially because they’d gone a combined 4-0 against the Hornets and Heat this season.
Early in Monday’s game, there was little reason for concern. A free throw by Marcus Smart gave the Celtics a 38-32 lead with 8 minutes and 9 seconds left in the second quarter. But then they unraveled.
Charlotte’s run started harmlessly, with a pair of free throws by Jeremy Lin. Yet the Hornets kept scoring, the Celtics stopped, and the crowd began to fuss. Lin hit a step-back jumper and a turnaround jumper and a 3-pointer, and suddenly it was an 11-0 flurry.
Isaiah Thomas made one of two free throws to briefly slow the bleeding, but it was like covering a large gash with a butterfly bandage. Charlotte immediately went on another 11-0 run that was capped by a Marvin Williams layup.
“We tried to dribble through traffic in that eight-minute stretch, and it was like we were just dribbling into five guys, 10 arms,’’ Stevens said. “And everybody [on Charlotte] was in the paint, because we weren’t making shots. And so we just kept fumbling the ball and turning it over, and those run-outs hurt.’’
Charlotte ultimately closed the half with a stunning 31-3 surge and took a 63-41 lead to the break. The Celtics shot just 13.6 from the field in the quarter and Charlotte shot 57.9 percent.
“We laid an eight-minute egg at the end of the second quarter, and just couldn’t overcome it,’’ Stevens said. “Offense was bad, defense was bad. Everything was poor.’’
The Hornets lead swelled to 28 points in the third quarter. The Celtics cut the deficit to 15 in the fourth, but they never became a serious threat to complete a comeback. Lin finished with 25 points for the Hornets, and Thomas and Bradley had 17 apiece for Boston.
Hornets coach Steve Clifford called it one of the best games his team had played all year, and by far its best in recent weeks.
“Hopefully,’’ he said, “it’s a sign that we’re gearing up.’’
That was the sign the Celtics were hoping for as they closed the regular season, too. Instead, they enter the final game with new questions emerging and new issues to correct.
“Do you have all your T’s crossed and I’s dotted is the question that has to be answered,’’ Stevens said. “Are we able to adjust on the fly? Is everybody physically ready to play and ready to play at a good level and really compete at a good level for an extended time?’’
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.
