Perkins says sloppy practice isn’t helping

There was once talk, although faint, of reaching 72 wins. Now the goal is to dominate opponents defensively, something the Celtics used to do regularly. The Celtics spent the past two days trying to regain their sharpness, but Perkins, along with coach Doc Rivers, walked away unimpressed.

“I think our energy’s been high, [but] these past few practices haven’t been good, I don’t think,’’ Perkins said after yesterday’s workout. “They haven’t been our best practices. We’ve been turning over the ball, just being sloppy the last two practices.

“I thought as far as Doc and the coaching staff, they had the right game plan for practice. As a team, we haven’t had the perfect execution for practice. We just gotta get back on the right track.’’

Rivers also noticed the spotty practices, despite the presence of Paul Pierce yesterday.

“Average,’’ he said, when asked to assess the practices. “I thought today’s practice was up and down. To me, it’s the way we played so far this year. We’ve been a spurt team. We’re not ready yet to be a 48-minute basketball team. That’s just not what we’ve done yet. We’re working on it.’’

Perkins said following Saturday’s loss that the Celtics were taking lesser teams lightly, and that was evident against the upstart Pacers, who were missing three contributing players to injury.

The Celtics are just ninth in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed, subpar for a team consistently in the top five. Three of the past five opponents have scored at least 97 points.

“We’ll get it together,’’ Perkins said. “I just think each guy got to look at himself in the mirror and just play their roles, do their jobs, starting with me. I think I have to do a better job of setting picks, getting guys open, being better on the offensive end than what I am.’’

The Celtics appear to be consumed with the 3-point shot, and that hasn’t worked. They are 19 for 74 from behind the arc (26 percent) in the past five games. They pointedly tried to pound the ball in the paint Saturday against Indiana, and it resulted in a 9-point halftime lead.