Mission completed, proper?
The Celtics break up the primary two video games out west. They return to Boston for the subsequent two video games of the NBA Finals after the Warriors tied up the collection with a powerful blowout win in Game 2.
No hurt, no foul, proper?
No one in inexperienced needs to be in despair after watching Sunday night time’s 107-88 horror present, particularly with the collection even heading to a raucous TD Garden for Games 3 & 4.
Ultimately, the Celtics obtained the job executed, proper?
For the group who believes the glass is half-full, dropping Game 2 gained’t be thought of an enormous deal. The Celtics thrive and play their finest after losses. They love being on a curler coaster. They’ve been a resilient bunch, and usually rise after throwing up the sort of dud they did in Game 2.
It’s been their calling card all season, and particularly throughout the playoffs.
See Milwaukee and Miami for particulars. So they’ll take the break up and be blissful.
For the glass is half-empty crowd?
The after-taste of the Game 2 loss is moderately unsettling.
The Celtics might very properly wind up rueing the day they let Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors off the mat.
One would have hoped the Celtics would have modified their modus operandi for the NBA Finals. It may need been good for the Celtics to not relaxation on their laurels, already having a Game 1 win of their again pocket.
It would have been good if the Celtics didn’t accept a break up, despite the fact that the Warriors had a heavy hand in night the collection Sunday night time.
Per normal, the Celtics simply couldn’t stand prosperity, as an in depth sport became a blowout within the third quarter, with the Warriors outscoring them 35-14.
Head coach Ime Udoka had hoped his staff would “be greedy” and present the identical sort of desperation they usually play with after losses, and head to Boston up 2-0 after their gorgeous Game 1 win.
But after falling behind by double-digits within the third quarter, simply as they did in Game 1, they couldn’t muster one other fourth-quarter barrage.
Udoka emptied the bench midway via the quarter.
After a torrid early tempo with 3-pointers, the Celtics cooled off. They had no response.
That should are available Boston.
It has to return in Boston.
To no shock, the Warriors performed with desperation. They wanted the win, obtained it, and mainly obtained their swagger again behind Steph Curry’s 29 factors.
The Celtics, in the meantime, didn’t play with the identical sort of urgency because the Warriors. They performed tremendous for a half, however the notion of going for the jugular fully disappeared within the second half.
Their sloppiness and carelessness with the ball (19 turnovers, together with 11 within the first half) made it unimaginable to essentially put the Warriors on the ropes heading to Beantown.
“We look at it as a disappointing loss in Game 2, a game we didn’t play up to our potential and our standard,” Udoka mentioned following the sport. “Regardless of what happened in Game 1, that’s behind us. We had opportunities. Like I said, to give up 18 of their 52 in the first half based off turnovers, and obviously allowed them to be in that situation up (after) two.”
That was earlier than all of it got here crumbling down within the third quarter en path to the Celtics struggling their worst playoff loss thus far.
While Jason Tatum got here alive (28 factors), others who put the dagger into the Warriors in Game 1 simply didn’t have it.
Opening-game heroes Al Horford (2 factors), Jaylen Brown (17 factors) and Derrick White (12 factors), who mixed for 71 factors within the first sport, didn’t come near duplicating the hassle.
And three-point kings Horford, White, and Marcus Smart, who hit 15 from lengthy distance in Game 1, hit simply two 3-pointers in Game 2, each from White.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr mentioned there wasn’t a lot in the way in which of “strategic” modifications. It was extra a matter of ramping up their physicality and depth.
The Celtics simply didn’t match. They didn’t ramp something up for Game 2.
Naturally, there’s consolation in heading dwelling, and enjoying in entrance of the zealous and fired up dwelling crowd. But the Celtics didn’t precisely deal with enterprise on the TD Garden throughout their earlier two collection.
The misplaced Games 1 and 5 to Milwaukee in Boston. They misplaced Game 6 to Miami, forcing themselves to must beat the Heat on the street in Game 7.
So it’s not precisely a assure they’ll maintain dwelling court docket, or take two in Boston with the group feverishly on their aspect.
Tatum was requested what needed to change for Game 3.
“Just playing with a sense of urgency, I think. Human nature plays a part when you go on the road,” he mentioned. “Obviously it’s a tricky atmosphere. I really feel like not too long ago we’ve sort of relaxed at dwelling.
“Whether we thought because we had home-court advantage, we came out a little more relaxed. Just having that sense of urgency, knowing that we’re at home, but that we need to play better at home.”
The urgency might be there, particularly after struggling such a lopsided loss. Udoka, in fact, will even must make changes, and push all the fitting buttons as soon as once more.
That’s often the system for the specified Celtics response.
“We’ve just got to come out and play basketball for 48 minutes. We do the best we can every single night and it’s gotten us to the Finals. We’re not a perfect team, but we’ll figure it out going forward,” mentioned Brown. “We’ve just got to come out and play basketball. We know the Warriors are a third-quarter team. We talked about it. They still came out and were able to go on a run. We’ve just got to be able to answer, and we didn’t tonight.”
Brown, in the meantime, mentioned at this level, no matter has occurred previously doesn’t matter. It’s what they do going ahead.
“Everything that happened in the last series and the series before, who cares? Right now we’re here playing a different opponent, a different team, and we’ve got to look at it as such,” he mentioned. “We’ve got to come out and play our best version of basketball, because we’re capable of doing it. So we’ve just got to come out and do that.”
Too unhealthy they couldn’t have executed so in Game 2. They might have actually put a severe dent into the Warriors, particularly mentally, and actually obtained them by the throat heading to Boston.
And whereas the collection is tied, it simply doesn’t really feel like they impacted the Warriors a lot, if in any respect.
Source: www.bostonherald.com