The finish of every of the final two Celtics seasons noticed a celebration and trophy presentation on the TD Garden parquet. But the C’s weren’t current for both of them.
Instead, the Celtics have been again of their locker room, packing up for the summer season whereas the Warriors celebrated a championship after which, a 12 months later, the Heat stood on a podium at Boston’s mid-court after advancing to the NBA Finals on Monday evening.
Both situations have been a stark reminder of the Celtics’ stunning failures at residence, a troubling pattern that has haunted them during the last two postseasons. Once hallowed floor, the Garden has grow to be a home of horrors for the Celtics. Over their final two playoff springs, the C’s have a mixed 11-12 document in Boston. That’s probably the most residence playoff losses in a two-year span in NBA historical past.
That’s merely unforgivable, particularly for a championship contender.
“This is difficult because this building for so many years has been so special,” Al Horford mentioned after Monday evening’s loss. “It’s very disappointing losing these games here. We talked about it as a group, about ways to coming out and having that edge at home and being great and getting the crowd to rally behind us.”
But as a lot as they talked about it, it hasn’t fairly clicked for this group on the Garden.
Their most puzzling losses of the playoffs got here at residence. They dropped a probably clinching Game 5 to the Hawks – who have been with out star guard Dejounte Murray – within the first spherical after blowing a double-digit fourth-quarter lead. They misplaced Game 1 to the 76ers once they didn’t have MVP Joel Embiid, then Game 5 of that collection in an atmosphere that resembled a January recreation in opposition to the Hornets.
The theme continued into the Eastern Conference Finals, the place they dropped the primary two video games to the eighth-seeded Heat after holding double-digit leads in each. Then, once they stormed again from an 0-3 collection deficit to power Game 7, they produced one among their worst performances of the season. Jayson Tatum sprained his ankle on the primary play of the sport, and with Malcolm Brogdon hobbled with an arm damage and Robert Williams reportedly throwing up through the recreation, it was an excessive amount of to beat. Losing the primary two at residence gave them no margin for error.
“I feel like for whatever reason we always felt coming back here, it was kind of our safe haven, that we were going to be fine,” Horford mentioned. “I’m not going to say that that’s … however I positively suppose that for no matter cause we simply sort of let unfastened a bit of bit at instances right here at residence, simply pondering that we’ll be high quality and we’ll sort of discover our means.
“That’s something that we’ll have to look at and make sure that we shift that mindset of protecting home, kind of being more aggressive, being more … because on the road I feel like there’s that edge that we have. We have to be consistent in that. That’s something that we have to be better at.”
The Celtics’ residence woes spoke to a season-long sample during which they inexplicably let go of the rope, and constantly dropped video games they need to have received.
Fresh off their loss within the NBA Finals, the Celtics have been motivated and fueled by that have, not less than to start out the season. They erupted to a 21-5 begin and have been head and shoulders above the NBA because the clear-cut championship favorites, however perhaps they’d a false sense of safety from that.
As defending Eastern Conference champions, they knew they have been at all times going to get opponents’ greatest photographs, however they failed to remain constant, particularly on the defensive finish. They would look invincible on some nights, then lose focus and depth and seem like a totally completely different crew the following. They couldn’t commonly give a full 48-minute effort. They lacked the eye required to win a championship.
“We addressed a lot of those things and right now I don’t have the answer for you,” Horford mentioned. “We addressed a lot of them, especially after the Philly series and even the Atlanta series. We were like, ‘Hey, we have to be better, we have to do these things.’ And it’s something that continues to happen. It’s a pattern that happens with us. We’re going to have to do some soul searching there because some things have to change in that regard. We had a great opportunity, and we failed. That definitely has something to do with it.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com