Dear Marcus,

You’ve been gone for 21 days, but it feels like 21 years. Things just haven’t been the same without you, especially the Celtics' defensive rating, which was a league-best 99.8 before your departure and has been 103.3 since.

Like a true gentleman, you never hesitated to snatch the ball from an opponent if the team was in need. But now, it’s you that we need, because the Celtics are last in the NBA in steals per game since you’ve been gone.

Like an umbrella on a summer day, you never let the opposing team rain on our parade, helping the Celtics to the best opponent three-point shooting percentage in the NBA. We are drenched in your absence, falling to 20th in opponent three-point percentage in the 10 games you’ve been out.

Your sturdy presence helped guide our ship through the stormiest of weather conditions, but I fear the ship cannot hold. Four of the Celtics' eight worst defensive rating games have come without you. And we are drowning in a February swoon, with a defensive rating of 106.9, which is closer to the Cavaliers level than to our lofty standards.

Time heals a broken heart, and I hope in time you can return to heal our broken defense.

Love,

The Celtics