The Celtics claimed they understood the stakes. Hours earlier than their pivotal Game 5, Malcolm Brogdon declared it a should win. The sense of urgency was actual.
“It’s a desperation mindset for us,” Brogdon stated. “We have to have this one.”
By 1 / 4 of 10 p.m. on Tuesday night time, these phrases proved hole. And immediately, by some means, this Celtics season stuffed with a lot promise, with expectations of a championship, is getting ready to dying within the second spherical.
These Celtics – who made their lives tough time and time once more – continued the alarming theme on an embarrassing night time in TD Garden. The crowd was lifeless from the opening tip, however the Celtics gave them nothing to be enthusiastic about. They flatlined with one in every of their worst performances on the worst time, a 115-103 loss to the 76ers.
“We just didn’t have it today,” Jayson Tatum stated.
“We dropped the ball tonight,” Jaylen Brown stated.
“Everything went wrong,” Marcus Smart stated.
“That was our first really, really bad game of the playoffs,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated. “It doesn’t come at necessarily the best time.”
That’s placing it calmly.
Now, the Celtics really face a should win, needing to win two consecutive video games to avoid wasting their season, the primary coming with Thursday’s Game 6 in Philadelphia. They put themselves in the identical place as final season, after they misplaced Game 5 at house to the Bucks within the second spherical earlier than profitable that collection.
It’s laborious to really feel optimistic a few repeat of that after Tuesday’s dud on the Garden, the place boos adopted the Celtics all through the night time.
“Last year is over,” Brown stated. “This year, got to come out and be better than we were tonight or we’ll have a different ending.”
Tatum scored 36 factors, however wanted 27 photographs to take action, and Brown scored 24 factors. The Celtics shot simply 12-for-38 from 3-point vary, and so they let Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, who scored 33 and 30 factors respectively, have their means with them. The C’s have been so determined for a spark they introduced Payton Pritchard off the bench late within the third quarter.
It didn’t work.
The Celtics have been blitzed by the Sixers early, and so they couldn’t get well. Tatum had one other poor begin, lacking his first six photographs. They trailed by double digits early within the second quarter, after they heard the primary boos of the night time. The Celtics confirmed transient indicators of life, however might by no means maintain it. They couldn’t get stops. They couldn’t cease committing expensive fouls. They couldn’t hit an open shot, together with Al Horford’s 0-for-7 effort from 3-point vary.
“We missed 10 wide open threes in the first half that if they went in, we would have felt different about ourselves,” Mazzulla stated.
But greater than the poor shot execution, the Celtics weren’t detailed sufficient. Horford stated the Sixers have been extra related than them. There wasn’t a degree of focus required for a sport of this magnitude.
“The energy wasn’t right,” Smart stated. “It could have been better, way better. We know that, we understand that. And tonight speaks volumes. It shows that, if you’re not ready, you’re going to go come out, any given moment, this can happen.”
The Sixers appeared to need it extra, taking part in with the desperation that the Celtics hoped for.
“I think when you have the intentions of really, really wanting to win, it doesn’t work out very well sometimes,” Mazzulla stated. “I thought we had the intentions of really, really wanting to win and trying to win it, and sometimes when that happens, it has a negative effect. I think we just have to play with a freer mind, take a deep breath, and regardless of the situation, we just have to be ready to play.”
The Celtics trailed by double digits for practically your complete second half and have been down 14 with underneath 10 to go when Tatum accomplished a three-point play. Dead for many of the night time, the group got here to life however they have been shortly deflated. Maxey answered with a 3-pointer, and after Brown was fouled on the following play, he missed each free throws. Embiid adopted with a triple to revive the SIxers’ result in 17.
That instructed the story of the Celtics’ night time. The closest they obtained once more was a 12-point deficit with underneath two minutes to go, effectively after Mazzulla had pulled his starters and the bench confirmed the urgency that was wanted from the regulars within the first three quarters.
After the Celtics’ additional time loss in Game 4, regardless of how discouraging the ending might have been, Horford and a few of his teammates have been inspired. The C’s had dug themselves out of an enormous gap with a formidable fourth-quarter comeback to drive additional time, and Horford stated he noticed indicators of development in his staff.
But then the Celtics, frustratingly, couldn’t decide up the place they left off. There was no carryover from Game 4.
“I don’t think it translated,” Horford stated. “That’s obviously disappointing, and right now, what we have to focus on is on this opportunity that we have going into Thursday. It’s something that we’re still in position to handle business, and that’s our focus now.”
Now, immediately, it’s win or go house.
“I got the utmost faith in us,” Smart stated. “We’ve done it before, so we just got to go do it again.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com