Eddie House: The Celtics quit their head coach in a Game 3 loss to the Heat appeared in the original NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics needed a win Sunday night to survive the Eastern Conference Finals.
Instead, they waved the white flag.
The Miami Heat outlasted Boston from a Game 3 jumper at the Casilla Center, pulling off a 128-102 win that gave them a 3-0 series lead and pushed the Celtics to the brink of elimination. Simply put, this was an embarrassing loss for the Celtics, who didn’t even come close to matching Miami’s energy in a game they had to win.
Game 3 takeaway: The C’s are about to be eliminated after an embarrassing loss
Former Celtics guard Eddie House hasn’t held back from his criticism of Boston Celtics Postgame Livenoting that it felt like a “quit” on the head coach Joe Mazola.
“I feel like the Celtics have resigned their coach,” House said. “Let’s call it what we really see. I feel like these guys don’t believe in what their coach is doing. We’ve seen that happen in a lot of other places. I don’t think they really believe in Joe Mazzola. I just feel like that.”
Mazzola led the Celtics to the second-best record in the NBA during the regular season, but seemed disoriented at times in his first season as head coach, He took heat from his aversion to calling time-outs When the opposing team gains momentum.
As House pointed out, Mazzola doesn’t look like he has his team ready to play Sunday night in Miami.
House added, “To me, it looks like a team that’s already been beaten.” “I hate to say it like that, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be surprised if we go in and lay another egg (in Game 4), because we laid them out this whole series.”
You could argue that gamers take a lot of the blame for how Game 3 has evolved; They shot just 26.2 percent from 3-point range and scored three fewer (11) turnovers (15). But Mazzola took over the lopsided score after the match.
“I didn’t find them ready to play,” Mazzola said in his post-match press conference. “…I have to get them in a better position, ready to play. That’s on me.”
If the Celtics don’t come ready to play Tuesday night in Miami, their season will be over. NBC Sports Boston’s coverage of Game 4 begins Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.