During the regular season, the Celtics had two separate winning streaks of at least 9 games.
In both cases, the streak ended with a mostly disastrous performance.
Honestly in the NBA, that’s usually how things go.
In both games, they played some of the most disgusting basketball you will ever see.
How did it end?
With one of the most disgusting displays of basketball in the history of the NBA Finals.
When the Celtics are bad, they are BAD.
That’s the bang out of swing that Celtics fans deal with every night.
It was pretty obvious which one of those Game 4 was.
They were outplayed, out-executed, out-defended, out-focused, all of it.
But what I would not do is chalk this up to some sort of fluke on the Mavs side.
Nobody rolls over and just hands you the NBA title.
The Celts trailed by as many as 48 points in this game.
So there will be no spinzone for any player or Joe or any aspect of this shit sandwich.
Instead, we’re going a different direction.
It’s my responsibility to help you calm any potential nerves you may be feeling right now.
Here’s all the material your brain should need
Alright, now to the real point of this blog.
Talk about a bad time for a bad night.
What you could’t have is a full 48 of both of those areas being complete dogshit.
Not when you’re on the road playing a team with everything to lose.
That simply cannot happen on Monday.
Those are all the ingredients that go into these terrible performances.
This is how those losses look.
As the Celtics continued to lose focus, their offense stalled.
You have to make your paint opportunities and you have to make your open 3s.
The Mavs did, and they blew doors.
- There will also of course be the Scott Foster discourse, and we all saw what happened.
My bigger issue isn’t with his bullshit, because we knew that was coming.
My problem was how the Celtics handled it and responded to it.
Yes, the whistle wasn’t consistent to start and it allowed the Mavs to establish momentum.
But you know what also helped?
The Celtics playing CTE basketball.
The Celtics being more concerned with the lack of a whistle than focusing on executing on drives.
If you were being honest with yourself, it felt every bit like the previous editions of this team.
You’re probably getting either Zach Zarba or Tony Brothers in Game 5.
There will be more bullshit to deal with.
The Celtics cannot let it impact them like they did in Game 4.
Sometimes you go cold shooting, sometimes you shortarm floaters, that shit happens.
But what should never happen is losing focus and falling victim to the refs' inconsistency.
You have to get past the bullshit.
- Every Celtics playoff loss comes down to three things.
I call it the Holy Trinity Of Playoff Pain.
Go back to any year, any run, any loss, these three things exist in them all.
High points off TOs
2.
Poor 3pt Shooting
3.
Poor rebounding
Let’s check in on how things looked in this latest loss
1.
17 points off TO allowed
2.
14-41 3PT (10-30 when the rotation players played)
3.
Jrue Holiday who didn’t have a turnover in the entire Finals, had 5.
Each one more brutal than the next.
If he thought he got hit Al, why did he throw it like that?
These are the throw in of CTE moments that summed up the entire game.
The rebounding, dear god.
A 52-31 rebounding difference is legitimately insane.
Second chance points 16-2.
It’s as simple as this.
If you don’t rebound.
That is complete bullshit.
The Celts didn’t intentionally punt this game, they got their ass kicked.
Nobody punts NBA Finals games when a title is on the line.
I saw a lot of that last night and I dunno, it irked me.
In reality, they got punched in the mouth and never recovered.
Before garbage time he was 1-5 (0-3) and was 1-16 to start the Finals.
With no Porzingis, that’s an issue.
He was 6-9 against Hauser last night, which was his most targeted matchup.
One of the biggest difference in Game 4 was the play of both benches.
It was pretty much the exact opposite.
On a night where your starters are also no showing, that’s not going to cut it.
The backcourt couldn’t make shit, whether that was open 3PA or plays in the paint.
And Finals MVP leader Jaylen Brown?
Easily his worst game in about 4 months.
This was an opportunity for the Jays to stamp themselves as legends, and they choked it.
I think that’s fair to say given what we saw.
How many times did we see any starter be unable to get past Kyrie/Luka?
It was as if offensively the Celts decided to play right into the Mavs hands.
Instead of playing with force, they were indecisive.
Then came the low shot quality threes, and the rest was history.
Your stars have to show up, period.
Given how they ended Game 3 and then last night’s Game 4, there’s real belief there.
A team with confidence and nothing to lose is dangerous.
- I think we’re all seeing the importance of Kristaps Porzingis.
His absence has changed the entire series
Does he play in Game 5?
I still say no.
It fucking sucks, but it is what it is.
Through 4 games, on “open” 3PA they are 20-66 (30.3%).
Payton Pritchard shooting 13%……also not great.
Granted they did shoot 25.6% in Game 2, but it does feel like they are due.
So here we go.
Will the Celts use this demoralizing loss as fuel and punch back in Game 5?
For the moment, I am choosing to believe in the team we saw all season long.
I am choosing to believe in the most dominant homecourt team in the NBA.
Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to pray.
