There’s a lot blame to go round by the Celtics’ despicable convention finals run that it will be unattainable to place the lion’s share on only one individual.
In what’s turned out to be an entire dud of a championship run for a Boston franchise trying to dangle its 18th title banner, it’s been the vaunted Celtics delight that has been most absent.
Forget surrendering Games 1 and a pair of on the TD Garden’s parquet flooring. If it wasn’t embarrassing sufficient to forfeit home-court benefit to the convention’s eighth seed, these Celtics flat-out gave up within the third quarter of Game 3 in Miami, when the Heat lead first ballooned to 30 factors.
With a chance to struggle tooth and nail to keep away from an 0-3 playoff deficit no crew in NBA historical past has ever overcome, the Celtics did the precise reverse.
They laid down. They took their beating and by no means as soon as within the second half regarded to struggle again.
“I don’t even know where to start,” stated star ahead Jaylen Brown. “I feel like we let our fan base, organization down. We let ourselves down, and it was collective. We could point fingers, but in reality, it was embarrassing.”
For a corporation that has been dwelling to a number of the biggest within the historical past of the sport, Sunday’s deflating loss was greater than embarrassing.
The give up the Celtics displayed in Game 3 might very properly depart a blemish – particularly in the event that they throw within the towel and get swept in Game 4 on Tuesday.
Embarrassing could be an 0-of-7 capturing evening from downtown for Brown, who had already shot 2-of-13 mixed from three-point vary by Games 1 and a pair of. Brown mustered simply 12 factors in a must-win Game 3 – and famous person ahead Jayson Tatum upchucked 14 factors on 6-of-18 capturing from the sphere and simply one-of-seven capturing from downtown.
And after going Games 1 and a pair of and not using a fourth-quarter area aim try, Tatum was a no-show within the closing interval of Game 3, glued to the bench alongside Brown as head coach Joe Mazzulla pulled the plug on the backside of the third quarter.
“Tonight was tough. I think from the beginning of the game, we were turning the ball over,” Tatum stated. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, they shot the ball extremely well. It just kinda felt like we never recovered, honestly, and that’s on all of us as a unit. We didn’t play well at all, and obviously by the score, it showed.”
Most embarrassing was the way in which the crew approached its flat capturing efficiency with nonchalance, merely strolling the ball down the court docket to hunt out extra doomed 3-pointers fairly than assault the rim with the urgency acceptable for the scenario.
Then there’s Mazzulla, who doubled as a human meat protect, biting the bullets for a crew that had extra turnovers (15) than threes made (11). The firm line for Mazzulla Sunday evening was “I just didn’t have them ready to play.”
The hole between Mazzulla and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is equal components embarrassing and regarding for a Celtics crew that was better-equipped for this problem below Ime Udoka final season. Mazzulla signed a contract extension in February – a transfer that solidified Udoka’s expulsion after a one-year suspension for office misconduct – however the Celtics might be available in the market for a brand new head coach the second this sequence ends.
Mazzulla’s Celtics did not assault Kevin Love – who performed a number of possessions with an injured again within the first quarter however was by no means put into motion on the defensive finish. They prioritized complaining to officers over getting again on protection and turned the ball over extra instances (15) than they made three-pointers.
Many of these misses got here on open appears to be like that crumbled below playoff strain.
“I just didn’t have them execute the proper game plan,” Mazzulla stated. “I didn’t put them in the fitting mentality to be prepared. It’s my job to guarantee that they’re related and that they’re able to play, and I didn’t do this.
“Whatever it was: Whether it was the starting lineup, whether it was the adjustments, just, I have to get them in a better place, ready to play. That was on me.”
And now we’re speculated to imagine that is nonetheless a sequence. That a crew that hasn’t proven a pulse by three video games will abruptly present indicators of life with nearly nothing left to struggle for.
In fact, this sequence was over the minute the Heat walked into the TD Garden and stole Game 1 – identical to they did the opening spherical in Milwaukee and in Round 2 at Madison Square Garden.
The Celtics need you to imagine they’ll flip this sequence round, but it surely’s clear after Game 3′s laugher they could not imagine that themselves.
“Series isn’t over yet,” Brown stated. “It’s looking bad but you come out and have some pride about yourself and put your best foot forward.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com