But Paul Pierce did not have to look very deep to find the problems.

“The past few weeks we’re not playing well and I think it’s just the little things, the simple things, that we’re not doing,’’ Pierce said before boarding a flight to New York for today’s game against the Knicks. “But, you know we’re going to get it together. This is a confident ball club. We’ve played together, been together for a while, and we’re not worried about it.

“We understand what we’ve got to do and it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it. It’s execution. If you’re setting the picks you’re setting, set them hard; if you show on defense, then show on defense. Those are the little things that we’ve got to do.

“We’re the same team. It’s about doing little things. Veteran group, been together a long time and it’s about taking care of the little things.’’

The Celtics (9-4) have lost three of their last five home games, including an 83-78 defeat against Orlando Friday.

“It’s a long season,’’ Pierce said. “We haven’t reached our peak yet. Obviously, we’re going to try and get better each and every day. I’m not going to push the panic button. We just have to get everybody back on the same page.’’

Coach Doc Rivers noted that the Celtics often complicate matters by improvising.

“You’ve got to do the basic stuff before you do the extraordinary stuff and I think we skip over the basic stuff to get to the extraordinary stuff, and that’s going to be tough to do,’’ he said.

“The first four minutes of the game, even though we didn’t score, it was 6-5, and I thought we were really playing well,’’ Rivers said of the loss to the Magic. “Then, we start making up stuff and the game changed from that point on.

“You start a play and then the next thing you know you’re out of a play. But you want your players to be free to see something. But a player can be absolutely right - ‘we should do this’ - but if the other four don’t know what ‘this’ is, then it can’t work. Even if he’s right. And I think that’s where we are, at times.

“They’re a high basketball IQ team and those are the type of teams that do that. Then you just have to get them back to being a disciplined group, too. And that’s why I’m not that concerned.’’

The Celtics’ air of invincibility has been eroded. There was a feeling that the return of Kevin Garnett (knee surgery), plus the addition of Rasheed Wallace, would give the Celtics a chance to challenge their 66-16 record of two years ago.

“I think we’re still trying to discover each other,’’ Rivers said. “I think they really want to win and I think they take it very personal when we do lose. It bothered them [Friday] night to lose.

“I told them, the good sign, I don’t know if we could have played more poorly. And it gets down to 45 seconds with a tie score and a foul called at the 3-point line with four seconds on the shot clock. Otherwise, we get the ball back. And that’s how close games are.

“What I think that did to them was show them that maybe those 15-20 times that we didn’t execute, if we had executed, maybe we wouldn’t have been in that position.

“We’re going to get there. I’m not worried about it or panicked about it. It’s going to take time.

“I’d rather win through these times, but maybe it will give us a sense of urgency to get it right.

“Once we get it right, I like this team. I like our size, our shooting ability, even though we can’t make a shot right now. I like our length; we’re a longer team, and I think in the playoffs that’s going to play a big part.’’

Rivers said the Celtics abandoned their plans to go inside against the Magic, partly because of the ineffectiveness of Garnett, who went down in a collision with Mickael Pietrus.

“I thought he was laboring, I thought he actually got hurt,’’ Rivers said. “So it made us go away from our game plan a little bit. I still should have stayed with it.’’

The Celtics assigned forward Bill Walker to the Maine Red Claws of the Development League. He had appeared in one game this season.