“What’s up, Doc?”
The Celtics enter Game 5 of their sequence in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers coming off an Elmer Fudd-like efficiency Sunday on the finish of regulation and additional time.
The Celtics have been looking “wabbits” and Doc Rivers had all of the angles lined. What was daffy in regards to the finish of Game 4 was not the shortage of a timeout name on the finish of regulation or additional time. No, that’s the norm. Inexplicably by some means.
No, what actually bugs us in regards to the finish of Game 4 was this troubling reality sample: Jayson Tatum had the ball within the lane on the finish of regulation with 4 seconds to play and didn’t shoot it. He had the ball and was headed for the rim on the finish of additional time with lower than 3 seconds to play and, as soon as once more, selected to not shoot.
Part of this was by design on Tatum’s half. He noticed Marcus Smart open for uncontested threes. He gave up the contested shot. He glided by the e book.
It could be time to show the web page.
As a rule, coaches preach “unselfishness” at each degree beginning on the Fidelity House in Arlington. That is the sacred floor the place Pat Connaughton and yours actually started their basketball careers. Pat went on to win an NBA title. My profession was minimize quick by poor eyesight and an appalling lack of expertise within the Brackett School auditorium/health club.
We preserve being informed that Tatum is HIM (grammatical questions however). But to be HIM. YOU should not solely wish to take the shot. You should take the shot. And you will need to make the shot. Especially through the playoffs.
Don’t get too excited by Tatum’s stat sheet or his two-way play down the stretch. He was non-existent within the first half, missed two free throws within the fourth quarter, and bailed on two potential game-winners.
The Celtics confirmed zero urgency when bringing the ball up courtroom after Harden’s ultimate shot in additional time. If the explanation for not utilizing a timeout is since you don’t wish to give the opposition time to set its protection, why stroll up courtroom?
Pat Riley known as a timeout in Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals to arrange Magic’s Baby Skyhook that principally ended Boston’s dynastic run of the mid-Eighties. Magic slapped the Celtics on Twitter for not utilizing theirs Sunday.
Timeouts. Good sufficient for Magic and Kareem.
Tatum and Smart, not a lot.
But there’s one other half to the equation that resulted in Sunday’s loss. And that’s Rivers.
Joe Mazzulla has been schooled by Rivers. While the Sixers boast the ailing present and a mercurial former MVP on their roster, Doc has gotten probably the most out of his in any other case unheralded squad. Mazzulla is 2 losses on this sequence from incomes the everlasting moniker of “Clueless Joe.”
Harden wrecked the Celtics in Game 1 after which did it once more on Sunday. Mayor Wu ought to reopen the Combat Zone instantly. That could be the one factor to maintain Harden below 40 factors if the sequence returns to Boston for a Game 7.
Jaylen Brown copped to the psychological lapse that left Harden open to hit the game-winner. Good for Brown. But he took three photographs within the fourth quarter and none in additional time.
Are we imagined to consider that, too, was a psychological lapse? If that’s the case, the Celtics can be a lot better off utilizing any max deal elsewhere.
A extra cheap rationalization for Tatum’s lack of ability to aim a possible game-winner twice, and Brown’s three photographs over probably the most essential 17 minutes of the season up to now, could be the Sixers’ protection.
The Celtics had a five-point lead with 2:04 to play in regulation. It was gone 73 seconds later. During that span Boston took one shot – a Marcus Smart chuck from Cambridge.
Same outdated story. No one needed to shut.
Combine that with Rivers’ willingness and willpower that his workforce wouldn’t be overwhelmed by both Brown or Tatum when the performs mattered probably the most, and also you had a 116-115 loss.
Smart was open all sport. By design. The Sixers gave him the open three on the finish of regulation. And, sadly, he missed it. The Sixers gave him the open three on the finish of additional time. Unfortunately, it was too late.
Just just like the Doc(tor) ordered.
Two calculated strikes by Rivers that paid off with an additional time win, a tied sequence, and one other sport assured on the Wells Fargo Center.
Rivers made positive Brown was smothered every time he had the ball. Tatum, too, confronted the identical kind of protection. He wanted to plant his proper arm within the chest of Philly’s Tyrese Maxey to clear house for the three-ball that gave Boston its ultimate lead of the sport.
The non-call on that play gave Rivers a gap. Doc laid into each the refs and an unwitting reporter who requested him if Tatum had dedicated an offensive foul.
“Jayson Tatum’s three was awful that that wasn’t called,” Rivers stated after the sport. “It was a push-off. And the reason that it bugged me was because at the end of the game, there were these touch fouls. Jayson Tatum has a 360 foul. Marcus Smart and (P.J. Tucker) gets tangled up. Touch foul. So if we’re going to call it that way. You have to call (the Tatum foul).”
Rivers has now put the refs on discover and planted one other seed of doubt in Tatum’s psyche. An space that has been overrun by a bountiful harvest of second-guessing and lack of killer intuition.
While Doc is enjoying 5D chess with the refs, Mazzulla was nonetheless holding on to his timeouts whereas providing the next rationalization of his workforce’s endgame self-destruction.
“It was great execution.”
The Celtics want a lot better than “great” in Game 5.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos) could be reached at [email protected].
Source: www.bostonherald.com