(Note: Unfortunately, clips are not available from NBA.com box results. Just the words of the day.)
1. It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. If this is true, then the Boston Celtics are crazy.
Over multiple playoff runs, the Celtics have struggled to shut down games. Every now and then, they do (like in Game 4 of this series) and you’d think they’d figure it out. Then they have a game like Game 5 and they look like the same old Celtics team who have no idea how to eliminate an opponent.
There is a belief in horse racing that some horses come from behind better, because they have something to chase. When they are on top, that drive is not there.
Maybe it’s the same for Boston. Looks amazing when applied. They are good at coming from behind. But when they are ahead, it often gets messy and ends in disappointment.
This was as frustrating a meltdown as it has been for the Celtics in years. Others had greater stakes, but this team should have gotten past this by now. way to NBA Finals Open to them as before. However, instead of preparing for a second-round match-up with a potential MVP, Boston returns to Atlanta.
2. This is too big a blame pie to slice and serve, but we don’t give any of those slices to Derrick White, Al Horford, or any of the guys who watched the action. Instead, we’ll give big aid to the Celtics core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart, with an equal share going to Joe Mazzulla.
These are the main guys in the Celtics. That’s true even if White is Boston’s third-best player this season. Tatum, Brown, and Smart are the ones who should come in when the Celtics need him most. And Mazola is supposed to take care of them all the way.
3. Jayson Tatum has done many good things throughout this game. He was 7 of 11 on 2-point shots. He had eight assists against just two turnovers. His defense was good, as always.
Tatum was also 1-for-11 on three-pointers. One of his turnovers came from a confusing cross play, which he doubled on an error. He also committed a technical foul, which was questionable, but is called out regularly. (And no, Onyeka Okongwu didn’t do “the exact same thing” a little later.)
Tatum has been a huge part of Boston going back to the same old clock kill offense as the Celtics for years now. After Jaylen Brown took a three-pointer to put Boston ahead by 13 points with 6:10 to play, the Celtics played at a slow pace, led by their offensive leader.
Tatum would kick the ball up, dribble 35 to 40 feet from the basket and stay there. A couple of times, he picked up teammates, but for the most part, it all stopped for Boston. By the time they were getting into anything, the clock was so low that attempts were rushed and forced.
That’s not all for Tatum, however, as Joe Mazzola said he should have taken action earlier to make sure the Celtics kept playing at a fast pace. But it’s a lot for Tatum. He owns the ball. He’s the man the Celtics are counting on to take home.
The final bit of Tatum’s share of the blame pie: He took one layup in the final five minutes of the game. It was a three pointer with 4:47 to go. (The last shot wasn’t taken in time, so it didn’t count.)
One shot in about five minutes. Celtics franchise player.
4. Jaylen Brown was great throughout the first three quarters of this game. He even scored eight points in the fourth quarter.
Well, for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter at least. Brown, just like Jason Tatum, collapsed late in the game.
Over the final six minutes, Brown missed both of his shots, committed a bad turnover and nearly had two more. And his defense wasn’t very good of late either.
Much like Tatum, Brown was a hitter when Boston needed him to get closer. To be fair, Brown dropped a couple of grenades late in the hour and had to try to create something out of nothing. But he should be able to handle some of that at this point in his career.
5. Marcus Smart was on the bench when the Hawks scored the first six points of a 12-0 tying series between the 5:24 mark and 2:42 of the fourth quarter. So, we can’t put any of that on him.
The next six points featured a heavy dose of Smart. Trae Young hit number three when Smart appeared on a different page than his teammates in terms of defensive coverage. Then Smart got a terrible turnover, and Young promptly came back to hit three more to tie the game.
Somehow, things got worse from there.
With Boston nursing a two-point lead, Smart committed an awful moving screen. On the Hawks’ next possession, he again made a soft substitution and put Al Horford in a tough spot against Young.
Then, after the Celtics took the lead from a freak play where Rob Williams won a jump ball and somehow got the end of the road, Boston was in “one stop and it’s over” territory. Smart tried to be the hero and went to steal about 45 feet from the basket. He converted the ball cleanly at first, but then pushed it in and dived through Young. It was a glaring mistake, and it came at the worst possible time.
Look, we love and trust Marcus Smart. We really do. But that was about as bad of a game as ever, possibly. Part of loving and trusting someone is being honest about when they make a mistake, and a hugely intelligent mistake.
6. IT’S TIME TO SERVE JO MAZOLLA BLAM PIE. It will be divided into parts, because there are many things that we do not understand.
But before we get there, treat this as a desperate plea: stop asking Ime Udoka back. Stop crying about Ime Udoka’s passing. He was fired for good reason. He’s also got another job now. He will never coach the Celtics again. Get rid of it. It is worse than crying over spilled milk, for it completely ignores his very serious transgressions as an authority figure in the Boston organization. Just moving forward already.
7. Back to Basketball…Where is Grant Williams? This whole deal for Williams not playing is ridiculous. You have to wonder if it’s personal at this point, because no basketball strategy makes sense. Williams has seen a meaningful move once in this series, and has played really well, coming right back to the bench.
Blake Griffin’s story has been great this season, and we all love his “leave it all on the field” approach, but playing him on Williams in the last quarter of a shutout game just doesn’t make sense. And Mike Muscala wasn’t included on Williams in Game 4, no matter how brief.
It can’t be a match either, as Boston plays a lot of big double formations (more on that later). Williams can defend anyone the Hawks rotate into positions 3-5. He can shoot the ball and the screen and keep the ball moving.
So why did Mazzola walk away from a guy who’s been one of the Celtics’ top eight players in the rotation almost the entire season? At first, it looked like a bargain as Mazzola would bail out Williams for what appeared to be tit-for-tat confrontations against Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmo. But there must be more than that.
Mazzola never said anything more than “matches” when asked about Williams not being in the series. But this is not good enough. Either that’s not true, or Mazzulla is wrong. And not changing them smells of stubbornness, and this is not the time for that.
8. Continuing… Why is Derrick White playing late? White was Boston’s third-best player this season. He was the Defensive Player of the Year all year, and was consistently positive on offense. It doesn’t make sense when he doesn’t underestimate this stretch.
If the goal is to win the title, Joe Mazzola needs the courage to put Marcus Smart on the bench. If Smart can’t accept it, then he’s not the Celtic we thought he was. The bet is that Smart won’t be happy about it (nor should he be a competitor), but he’ll get it.
That doesn’t mean White has to go wire in the fourth quarter. But if it’s less than six minutes into play, White must be on the floor. Everyone can see this except for the person making the actual lineup calls.
9. Out of necessity, Boston has largely shied away from the big double formations this season. And they were very successful going with the big one on the floor at a time. In this series, that’s dramatically reversed.
Now, we wouldn’t say it’s always the wrong call. Atlanta has had enough success on the boards that it makes sense that Rob Williams and Al Horford would be together. Williams was one of the only Celtics players to do positive things in the last few minutes of this game.
However, Boston had to keep scoring. This is not happening at the rate it needs to be with the big guys in the game late. Since the day they introduced him, everyone from Celtics employees to Celtics fans have said that Malcolm Brogdon was the missing piece from last year’s Finals team. Another person who can delay play and keep the scores flowing when things go awry.
Now, when things got in the way, Brogdon was watching from the bench. This is not what the team set expectations from that trade, nor what others bought as expectations.
Joe Mazzola must be willing to take all of the above and combine them into better formations. Looks like Boston’s best lineup could be Big (maybe Al Horford), Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon. If you really need to stop or bounce, put Smart and Rob Williams on. But other than that, close games with players on the ground who will play the right way when attacking. If nothing else, it’s worth trying something different to see if it works.
10. Sigh.
Big, long, heavy, angry sigh.
That was too much. The frustration is evident in the Celtics now. Nobody wants to hear them keep saying all the right things after matches, while continuing to do all the wrong things. This record has been played so many times that it is distorted and the needle snaps all the way through.
Just be better. Don’t tell everyone you’ll be better. Actually be better.
It’s all there for the Celtics. Sure, they gave Philadelphia two more days of rest, but Joel Embiid is still agitated. Who knows if Milwaukee will make it to the second round?
Boston must reach the NBA Finals. Nothing has changed with this prediction. They just insist on never learning their lesson, which makes everything more difficult than it needs to be.
Thursday night is the chance to get this one. And it would be appropriate for the Celtics to do that, since anything can happen in Game 7. The best way to prevent that from being a concern is to shut them down in Game 5. Now, the best way to prevent that from happening is to shut them down in Game 6. There are no excuses left. Just be better.