ATLANTA — Joe Mazzulla took the blame.
The Celtics’ epic Game 5 collapse had come right down to poor offensive execution. They dedicated 4 turnovers within the closing 4 minutes. Their tempo slowed. They lacked a way of urgency. Mazzulla, the first-year head coach, acknowledged his faults in these moments. Then, two nights later, he put these classes into motion because the Celtics thrived in crunch time to remove the Hawks.
“I thought last game, because of me and my play calling, we played slow,” Mazzulla stated. “I thought this game, I kind of learned from that, and they were proactive.”
Mazzulla had a profitable first common season, particularly given the circumstances that confronted the Celtics and his scenario as they entered coaching camp. But the playoffs introduced a very new problem for him. He was excited for it, but in addition untested in that surroundings, partaking in a tug-of-war of changes over a sequence.
There had been rising pains, as Game 5 confirmed. But Mazzulla pressed all the suitable buttons late on Thursday because the Celtics closed out the Hawks. They obtained again to their offensive tempo and spacing, led by Marcus Smart. Defensively, they shut down the Hawks after they seemed unstoppable for many of the evening. He made the daring resolution to insert Grant Williams into vital fourth-quarter minutes, shifting defensive coverages to throw the Hawks off.
It paid off.
“We were just changing coverages, changing defenses, keeping them off rhythm as much as we could. I thought our guys did a great job at the end of locking in,” Mazzulla stated. “They wanted to win, they kept the momentum, the energy, the edge of the game, and they executed.”
Smart stated Thursday’s closeout victory was a “prime example” of Mazzulla’s strengths as a head coach as he made the changes required.
“Being able to adapt, that’s what it’s all about, especially in the playoffs and that’s what he did,” Smart stated. “Game 5 wasn’t a good game for us. We came back out and adapted tonight and got the win.”
The Celtics have continued to maintain their religion in Mazzulla all through his first season. It’s been a collaborative effort, as Mazzulla stated it could be when he took the job.
“It’s been great all season just managing personalities, managing games,” Jayson Tatum stated. “The season is long. We’ve had great periods, we’ve had periods where we’ve slipped a little bit, and his faith in us, our faith in him … I said all the time this is like a relationship. We’re on the same page. As much as he’s helping us, we’re helping him because we’re all on the same team. I think he always finds ways to maintain his poise, especially being a coach or leader of a team, that’s important. When things are going great, stay the same. When things aren’t going great, you stay the same. He’s done a great job.”
C’s reward Williams’ maturity
After taking part in 18 minutes within the Celtics’ Game 3 victory, Grant Williams performed one minute in rubbish time of Game 4, and didn’t play in any respect in Game 5.
Such has been the roller-coaster experience for the fourth-year ahead. But given an opportunity to play a giant position in Game 6, Williams was as soon as once more as much as the problem. Somewhat surprisingly, he performed 11 minutes within the second half, together with seven within the fourth quarter because the C’s went on a late surge. Williams’ protection – he drew a cost, and contributed to a number of defensive stops – was important because the Celtics pulled away.
“Grant was huge,” Al Horford stated. “So professional throughout all the uncertainty and things like that. He did not make excuses. His number was called, he stepped up, made big shots and defensive plays. He was so key for us to close this game. We do not close this game if Grant didn’t step up and play the way that he did.”
As the Celtics put together to face the 76ers, Williams will seemingly see a extra constant position within the second spherical as a result of he has traditionally carried out properly defensively in matchups towards Joel Embiid. But even when he doesn’t, Williams’ continued professionalism via unsure taking part in time is just not going unnoticed by his teammates.
“The professionalism from Grant, there’s a couple games in this series he got DNPs and then obviously there’s a couple games in this series where he got in 5-10 minutes, not the lot that he was used to and he just kept the course,” Smart stated. “When he was in there, he did everything in his ability to help this team win and that’s all you can ask for. The opportunity might not be as much as somebody else, but when you do get your opportunity, take full advantage and he did that.”
Sorry Ms. Jackson
When the Celtics misplaced Game 5, they inconvenienced a legendary musician.
Janet Jackson was scheduled to carry out Thursday evening at State Farm Arena, however the present needed to be postponed to Friday as a result of Celtics-Hawks Game 6 wanted to be performed. If it’s any solace, Tatum issued an apology to Jackson following the Celtics’ victory.
“I want to send an apology to the legend Janet Jackson,” Tatum stated in his walk-off interview on TNT. “We were supposed to close it out in Boston. She had to postpone her show. I hope she sees this. I apologize for that. But we got it done today.”
Second-round schedule
The Celtics’ second-round sequence towards the Sixers will start on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden, with Game 2 set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. The sequence shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday at 7:30 p.m., then Game 4 on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Games 5-7, if obligatory, will likely be performed on May 9 (Boston), May 11 (Philadelphia) and May 14 (Boston).
Source: www.bostonherald.com