By that measure, the 11-4 record is a lie. Based on how well they need to be playing - and should be playing, according to their capabilities - this is a sub-.500 team. The Shamrocks have not come close to their own expectations in well more than half their games.

The calendar is the Celtics' main ally, but as the days roll by without the kind of performance that engenders faith, the uneasiness is moving in and setting up house. Opposing scouts are smirking, and discouraging words are bouncing through the media.

The Celts are playing utterly uninspired Basketball. If they don't like hearing that, they should do something about it.

Rivers keeps saying it's a make-miss league and that his guys simply have been missing too many open shots. But a good poker player doesn't always need the best hand to win.

Watching the way the Celtics are playing now brings to mind their forefathers from the 1980s. Unfortunately, we're talking about the very late '80s.

The teams from that decade needed more than just their significant talent to win. They were often tougher and willing to work harder than their opponents.

But a strange thing happened as the decade got late. Though they still clearly were one of the NBA's elite teams, they started acting like it was their birthright. And that was a problem.

Though there's no question injuries played a huge role in their drop-off, it also was evident those Celts often played as if, hey, it was the regular season and they'd answer the bell when the real games started. They weren't as cohesive, and the effects manifested in some interesting ways.

Opponents lost the fear factor.

This group is headed in that direction - if they're not already there. As they struggled against the 76ers on Wednesday, the Celtics seemed to be grasping at something just out of their reach. Their game wasn't there on command. They had brought a date to the party and ignored her too long. Now when they were asking her to dance, she was holding hands with someone else.

Rivers said Tuesday, ``I think at times we think we have a switch that we can just turn on and off. And I think we're learning right now that we don't have that switch.''

At least not the on part. The Celtics have to accept the blame for turning it off. They were picked by many to win the championship because they work harder than anyone else and they have the talent to back it up. But they seem to have lost the first part of that equation.

Just before the fourth quarter Wednesday, a clip from ``Hoosiers'' played on the video boards above center court. ``Remember what got you here,'' coach Norman Dale said.

The Celtics would be wise to take that to heart.

- sbulpett@bostonherald.com