Well, that wasn’t exactly the best trip to Florida now was it.
That’s been a trend basically all season when you look at their schedule.
In late October they dropped two straight and then went 18-3.
Then in early December they dropped a few in a row and won 4 straight.
Then in early January, they lost 2 in a row and then won 9 straight.
I’m not sure if that even means anything, but I did find it interesting.
The Celts without Smart, Jaylen, Brogdon, Horford, and the Heat without Jimmy.
Instead, they choked.
They got what was coming to them.
So let’s talk about it.
The Good
- It would be wrong to say Jayson Tatum was bad in this game.
For those who cry about his efficiency, he finished 9-18 (2-5).
The Celts are not in this game if not for Tatum’s performance, that’s all true.
In fact, this was basically his GS performance only with better efficiency.
Here’s the thing though.
When it mattered most, Tatum was careless.
That’s what makes these performances so tricky.
He both carried the team and boned the team all in the same game.
That has to be figured out.
- For a guy who just hyperextended his knee, I thought Rob looked great.
He’s honestly the only person I’m not really mad at after last night.
That 31 number is the highest Rob has played since his return by the way.
The defense showed up for the most part.
If the Celts consistently defend like this, they’ll be fine.
- That’s really it.
Outside of those things, everything pretty much stunk.
We can move on.
It’s not like they shouldn’t be fresh, most of them barely play.
Unfortunately, that didn’t really happen.
Payton Pritchard, for all he does, is not really an offense creator.
He’s a catch and shoot guy.
Then you add in someone like Grant, who for the second straight game was pretty brutal.
Outside of Tatum’s 7 TOs, Grant was next with 4.
Next, there was Sam Hauser.
Defensively I thought Hauser held his own.
Two blocks, a steal, some good positional defense, that was all fine.
But let’s be clear about something.
Sam Hauser is not there to defend, he’s there to make shots.
Unfortunately, he went 0-6 (0-5).
He in fact did not make a single shot, pretty much all of which were wide open.
That…can’t happen.
So add it all up.
Those three role guys combined to score 20 points on 7-26 (5-15) shooting.
Call me crazy, but 26/33% is pretty shitty.
Compare that to the Heat role guys and it was a bloodbath.
Bench points were 39-10.
This sequence probably sealed his fate in my opinion.
I don’t mean to sound mean, but what exactly does he do at an NBA level.
He didn’t play many minutes, but the ones he did play were pretty terrible.
That shit is losing basketball.
When the Celts are this careless with the basketball it overshadows all the good they do.
They are 31-9 this season when committing under 17 TOs.
They’re 28-5 when that number is under 15.
Does nobody remember the ECF?
- 6 missed FTs in a game you lost by 3.
Tatum with 3 by himself.
Well, the Heat finished with 14 OREB which led by 16 2nd chance points.
In the 4th quarter, they had 2 huge OREBs.
That’s 33 points.
Said another way, it accounted for 33% of the Heat’s offense.
So when I say this was the ECF all over again, it really was.
They did the same shit in that series as we saw last night.
The Ugly
- I mean, the entire 4th quarter.
What else needs to be said?
Let’s take it from the top.
Things started with Tatum on the bench which was absolutely terrifying.
That came with 8:46 left.
Tatum re-entered the game 1 minute later with the Celts up 7.
So, the non Tatum lineup managed to be even in those 4ish minutes.
That’s a win.
The bad news is after that Rob dunk, everything and I mean everything went to hell.
In just 2 minutes, the Heat went on a 10-0 run to tie the game.
Joe called a timeout.
Momentum is starting to shift and these are point blank shots, both brutal misses.
- Then, we had the final play.
Immediately fans cried that Joe didn’t call a timeout.
I’m not sure why, that shit happens all the time in the NBA.
Herro read his eyes, and he should have just kicked the ball to White.
That’s why I don’t get the anger toward Joe, this was a player execution issue.
Joe said after the game he probably should have called something different, and that’s fine.
His 4th quarter was horrendous by anyone’s standards, and that can’t happen.
Add this to the GS ending, and this is something that very clearly needs to be figured out.
Teams are going to double Tatum at the end of these close games.
- Just 34/21% shooting with 11 TOs in the 2nd half.
37 points in 24 minutes is pretty terrible, especially when you had 58 in the first half.
They finished 23/20% in the 4th, with 3 TOs and just 5 FGM.
No shit you choked a game away doing that.
It’s now on this team to stop the bleeding and double-check things don’t snowball.
