Mike Celizic

It is not panic time for the Boston Celtics, not with the season less than half over and the Big Three still operating at a high level. Somebody has to get that message through to Danny Ainge in the front office before he does something blindingly stupid, like acquiring Stephon Marbury.

That’s not to say the defending NBA champions are fine the way they are. Their recent 2-7 malaise after a league-record 27-2 start has exposed some holes that will need to be patched before the season is done. But it’s important not to equate a rough stretch of road with a sign that the team needs dramatic personnel moves to restore it to health.

The blazing start that had people comparing the Celtics to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls showed that Boston is still a powerful basketball team. The 2-7 slump that’s followed has showed that reports of the team’s all-time greatness were exaggerated.

The team’s shortcomings have been well documented: The Celtics are vertically challenged, with the 6-9 Kevin Garnett being the tallest front-line player; point guard Rajon Rondo hits open jumpers as often as Ann Coulter utters the word “liberal” without intending it as an insult; and there is a decided lack of depth on the bench.

Marbury could provide outside shooting, but he solves none of the team’s problems. He’s never learned to play point guard, and he has as firm a grasp of team play as mole rat has of quantum theory. If the Celtics are looking for help, as they should be, he’s not it. No team should be so desperate as to see Marbury as a ticket to the playoffs, much less the NBA Finals.

Still, these are real problems. Last year, P.J. Brown was able to come off the bench to provide tough defense and rebounding up front and Sam Cassell and Eddie House provided depth at guard.

Despite those lacks, the stats for this year’s Celtics are almost identical to last season’s team. Garnett’s scoring average is down almost three points a game, but Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are scoring at a nearly identical rate as last season. After Friday's loss to the Cavaliers, the Celts were scoring 100.1 points a game and giving up 91.6 compared to 100.5 and 90.3 last season.

What it all says is that the real problem is located between the team’s collective ears. And it’s probably due to its incendiary start, and especially the 19-game winning streak that ended with a loss to the Lakers that touched off a string of losses that in turn have led to a crisis in confidence.

A long winning streak, like a hitting streak in baseball, is intoxicating. As a team or an individual, as the streak goes on, you increasingly feel you can’t miss. There is no doubt, no thought that it can end as quickly as it began. You don’t even think about what you’re doing. You just do it.

Jacques Lemaire, a rare cerebral hockey coach, once explained it to me when he was leading the Devils to their first Stanley Cup. He said you go on a tear, you can't lose, and you start believing you're superman and can turn it on anytime. As the wins pile up, you slack off a little in workouts and practice and pregame preparation because, after all, you can’t lose.

Eventually, it catches up to you and you do lose. When that happens, there’s a natural letdown because you no longer have the streak to carry you along. But there’s also the collective effect of the shortcuts you took and the lazy habits you got into. So you start pressing and thinking too much instead of just doing.

Jordan’s Bulls rarely if ever had such problems because Jordan never took a possession off, let alone a day. He never let up on himself or his teammates, never took anything for granted, never coasted through a practice.

As we now know, these Celtics aren’t like that. No team is. They’ve got to work and fight their way back into it the way every other team does. And when they do get their act back together, they’ll wonder how it ever fell apart.

Special feature Free agent class of 2010 A look at the many superstars that will be hitting the free agent market. NBCSports.com

When the season ends this spring, we’re all going to look back at this slump as a critical point for this team. Whether it will be the point when the team panicked and Ainge made an ill-advised trade or when the team rediscovered its focus and regrouped to go to another Finals remains to be seen.

But one thing is certain: The Celtics are broken only if the front office and the players think they are. You don’t go 27-2 on luck. And you don’t follow that with a 2-7 streak because you suddenly forgot how to play.

Yes, the Celtics could use some help from outside. But with or without that help, they still have to fix their problems from inside, from between the ears. That’s where the winning came from and it’s where the losing is born, too. Fix that problem and everything else falls into place.

More on Celtics | Celizic

Also on NBCSports.com Beyond the Arc: No. 11 Mich. St. takes big step forward Chandler: Jeremy Lin was special even in 8th grade What NFC teams need this offseason  |  And AFC DeMarco: Dodgers could become a contender Follow us on Twitter: @NBCSports  |  And Facebook