Jaylen Brown has taken one other large step ahead this season, placing collectively a profession season that can virtually definitely ship him to his second All-Star Game subsequent month.
But there have been a number of nights this season that the Celtics star would slightly neglect. Thursday night time is definitely excessive on the record.
The Celtics, although torpid for lengthy stretches, had been resilient as they produced a monster fourth quarter comeback and overcame a double-digit deficit to ship the sport to extra time. But some forgettable sequences haunted them within the further session. With lower than 10 seconds to go and an opportunity to seize victory, Brown missed two free throws, which sealed a 120-117 loss to the Knicks on a wild night time at TD Garden.
“I have to be better, to be honest,” Brown mentioned after capturing 8-for-22 within the loss. “Tonight was only a tough sport, and I’m a greater basketball participant than I performed right now. Those two missed free throws form of embodied the entire sport. I didn’t actually get going, didn’t give my workforce sufficient power to win.
“That’s what happens when you don’t come out and give your best. I’ll be better.”
Jayson Tatum completed with 35 factors, together with some large performs down the stretch in regulation to ship the sport to extra time. But Julius Randle had his means with the Celtics en path to 37 factors, Jalen Brunson punished them with 29 factors and the C’s couldn’t overcome a number of missed alternatives in extra time.
The Celtics led by 5 early in extra time after which two with lower than two minutes to go after Randle’s 3-pointer. But they didn’t construct on their benefit. Even as they fought for unfastened balls and Malcolm Brogdon and others got here up with large offensive boards, the Celtics went almost three minutes with out scoring some extent. R.J. Barrett lastly made them pay with a 3-pointer from the nook to present the Knicks a one-point lead with 29 seconds left.
Brown answered with a driving layup however on the following Knicks possession, Robert Williams fouled Randle, who hit two go-ahead free throws. Brown was fouled on his jumper with seven seconds to go. Trailing by two, Brown hit the entrance rim on each of his makes an attempt and that sealed Boston’s destiny. Barrett made two free throws and Tatum’s game-tying 3-point try was off because the Celtics misplaced their third consecutive sport.
“Those two free throws kind of embodied the whole performance,” Brown mentioned. “It was lackluster. I had a chance to bring it home for us, give us the lead, didn’t happen. But you wear it, don’t run away from it and get ready for the next one.”
The Celtics – who had been forward by 13 within the first quarter behind a scorching begin – didn’t construct on that momentum and the hungry, feisty Knicks stormed again.
The Celtics trailed by as many as 13 within the fourth quarter and by 12 with lower than 5 minutes to go in regulation once they appeared to lastly reply the alarm clock after some sloppy play to start the fourth put them in a deep gap. It was fueled on a collection of much-needed defensive stops.
Williams was fouled on a layup, however missed the free throw, to convey the Celtics inside eight. On their subsequent defensive possession, they pressured the Knicks right into a shot-clock violation and Tatum’s driving layup made it a six-point sport.
Tatum and Randle exchanged buckets earlier than Tatum took over. He transformed a three-point play to make it 110-105 earlier than he intercepted a cross from Randle and located Brogdon, who drained a 3 to shut it to a one-possession sport.
After one other cease, Brogdon missed a large open try on the go-ahead 3-pointer however the Celtics protection pressured one other shot clock violation. Tatum then drove for the game-tying layup and after forcing one other cease, they’d an opportunity to win the sport on the ultimate possession. But Tatum misfired on a good look and the sport went to extra time, the place the C’s finally couldn’t get it finished.
As the Celtics hit 50 video games right here in late January, they’ve appeared to hit just a little little bit of a wall. After a nine-game successful streak, they’ve dropped three in a row for simply the second time this season. Some key guys have been out, together with Marcus Smart on Thursday. But they’ve misplaced some sharpness on a number of the particulars which have pushed them atop the NBA.
Those issues occur over a protracted, 82-game season. But nights like Thursday present they nonetheless have work to do to remain related, constant and preserve their concentrate on a nightly foundation.
“Great teams know why they’re good, and why they’re good all the time,” interim head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “And so we simply can’t take possessions or time within the sport with no consideration, and I didn’t assume we performed constantly the whole sport, bodily, detailed, related basketball. When we turned it on, we actually did. And so we simply have to do this on a regular basis.
“Being a great team is really, really hard. You just have to work at it every single day, and you’ve just got to do the small, boring things all the time.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com