I’m not sure about anyone else, but my heart is still racing.
How could it not be?
That’s not new.
Buthowthey’ve done it?
I dunno, things just feel different.
In Game 1, that Jaylen shot doesn’t fall.
Somehow, that game ends in a brutal ECF overtime loss.
You know it, I know it, we all know it.
We’ve lived it.
In Game 3, there is no 18 point comeback.
There are no late game heroics.
With the opponent shooting like that, this would have always been a blowout ECF loss.
How do I know that?
I lived through Game 3 of the 2022 ECF in MIA.
Go ahead and look up how that game went.
They say to win an NBA title you need things to break your way.
You need health, you need execution, and most importantly, you need luck.
Well, there’s only one explanation here.
Because make no mistake, the Celts had no business winning this game.
Look how the Pacers shot the ball last night!
You know what it reminded me of?
Game 4 of the 2008 Finals.
Down 24 points, the Celtics pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history on the road.
Things looked lost in that game, just like they did last night.
But just like the 2008 team, the 2024 team found a way.
At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
I don’t care how you do it, just find a way.
Win ugly, win by blowout, win by an epic comeback, who gives a shit.
Just find a way to win.
The Good
- The national discourse around Jayson Tatum is arguably one of the dumbest things in existence.
I know that can sound dramatic, but I don’t lie in this blog.
I simply tell you what’s happening.
Pick any player you want throughout NBA history, they never did it.
Which brings me back to the Jayson Tatum discourse and how utterly moronic it is.
I think that’s what breaks my brain the most.
It’s bananaland stuff, really.
This Game 3 performance?
Add it to the list.
Right on time, right in Al’s shooting pocket, down 5 points with about 71 seconds left.
Instead, he did what he always does.
He made the right play.
When you do shit like that, the Basketball Gods reward you.
We see it all the time.
Pretty good to me!
That is what Tatum did and has done pretty much his entire Celtics career.
I’d say no fewer than 10 billion times.
No chance he was letting anyone else get that rebound.
This man is old as shit and is giving EVERYTHING he has.
To say he’s been great doesn’t even do it justice.
He hasn’t just been great.
But when it came time to step up and make a play, Holiday delivered.
As a Celtics fan, it was a weird moment.
Not too long ago, we were on the other end of a steal like this by Jrue.
- You know, it feels like a good time to relive the entire 18 point comeback.
Instead of going up soft or maybe going up looking for the foul, Jaylen brought the thunder.
This is it, this is what we’ve been waiting for.
Blocking centers, blocking wings, it doesn’t matter.
On a night where nothing seemed to be going his way, Derrick found a way.
A big three in the 4th, a OREB putback, that play at the rim.
Just huge momentum plays when the team needed it most.
- Shoutout Xavier Tillman for his +12 in his 13 minutes.
Shooting 65%, they seemed to be getting whatever they wanted, it was a problem.
The Bad
As I just mentioned, everything about the first half defensively can live in this section.
Sam Hauser is in the slump of all slumps right now.
There’s no other way to say it.
You have to keep taking open looks, trusting that eventually one is going to drop.
Once it does, we’ll see Hauser snap out of it.
But at the moment?
Unplayable at times bad.
But you have to stay the course, I truly believe that.
This is a lifetime 41% shooter who was shooting in the high 30s this playoffs.
It’s a brutal slump at the moment, but it will pass.
- The missing FT bullshit has to stop.
Tatum missing 4 FTs almost NEVER happens.
- I was certain this was going in
So why is it in this section?
A great play from Carlisle that the Celts blew defensively.
But as they say, it’s a make or miss league.
Something about that TV angle had my brain convinced it was going to drop in.
Thankfully, that “luck” thing showed up again.
The Ugly
- You know the rules.
Celts win 5 in a row we skip this section until they lose.
Now up to 6 straight, see ya never.
We just lived through the Celts forcing a Game 7 after getting down 0-3 last year in the ECF.
Do it for Al, do it for KP, do it for us.
11 down, 5 to go.
