There’s really only one way to begin this blog.
The way the Celts fought to keep their season alive last night was the stuff of legends.
But what do I always say, both in the good and bad times?
Forcing a Game 7 is not winning a series.
A team can’t lose a Game 7 at home
B).
The Celts have been a wagon in their own building.
They need to play with that same hunger, that same determination, and that same defensive effort.
Just think of what the alternative could have been had things gone south last night.
This game, and really the entire series, has been a microcosm of their entire season.
We needed to see an answer.
Boy did we get one.
The thing is, we did not see the Celts at their ceiling offensively last night.
They only scored 95 points and shot 42% from the floor!
That’s the encouraging part.
The Celts went down to Philly and stole this game while not even playing at their highest level offensively.
Let’s talk about it.
The Good
- If you watched this game, you understand there is honestly only one place to begin.
HE SAVED THE FUCKING SEASON.
Once again, it was Smart who put this team on his back early.
That big start the Celts had in the first quarter?
He had two 3PM, a huge steal, and was a +15 in his 8 first quarter minutes.
In the 1st quarter of these playoffs, Smart is shooting 50% from deep.
In this series, he’s shooting 66.7% from deep in the first quarter.
That dips drastically to 20% in the 4th, but that makes sense.
Given what he has to do in a game, his legs are probably shot by the 4th.
Overall, there were a few things that stood out to me with this performance.
If he creeps up to stop a floater, Smart will just lob it to Rob.
If he stays too far deep, Smart can easily finish in the paint.
We then had the most Marcus Smart Experience of all time in the final 90 seconds.
So much so, we need to break it down by frame.
At this moment, we all probably said the same thing.
Some form of “BE SMART”.
It was here that I started to get both confused and very nervous.
Smart wasn’t slowing down.
In fact, he was speeding up?!?!?
While he found space, he also found himself surrounded by literally every single Sixer.
I’m pretty sure this was also the point where I stopped breathing.
Full blown panic at this moment.
That’s how this season has gone.
I couldn’t believe what I was watching given the situation.
I don’t want to sound dramatic, but it felt like that ball was loose for 45 seconds.
In this spot, first to the floor wins.
Look at what he’s doing.
He’s only calling the biggest timeout of the entire Celtics season.
What a moment for him and for me personally.
The chaos is what makes this team so addicting.
Overall, when this team needed their heart and soul, the heart and soul showed up.
Not just from a mentality and energy standpoint, but a production standpoint.
He backpacked this team while the Jays had their offensive struggles.
It couldn’t be clearer just by looking at this series.
The Sixers had quarters of 22, 21, 30, and 13 points.
The game turned when the turnovers started/defense regressed and they finally allowed a 30 point quarter.
Defense isn’t just about forcing misses, it’s also about finishing off defensive possessions clean.
The Celts dominated the rebounding battle 50-38, and allowed only 6 OREB for 8 total 2nd chance points.
It wasn’t just due to the double bigs either.
While they were awesome with 20 total rebounds, it was a collective effort.
There was no Celtics starter who finished with under 6 rebounds.
Even Brogdon came off the bench and gave you 6 DREB.
That requires you to own the defensive glass, and that’s exactly what we got.
Their length made a real impact not just on Embiid, but every Sixers player.
If you’re curious what they did in Game 5, it was 9-17.
That’s the length of both Rob and Al.
With Rob not giving a shit about PJ Tucker, it forces Doc to make a choice.
- I suppose this is where we can talk about Jayson Tatum.
Let me try and put in perspective what we watched and how crazy it was.
For 43 minutes, we were watching the worst performance from a star player maybe in NBA history.
His entire legacy as a player was on the line and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.
He was 1-14 (0-6)!!
Plenty of other guys get gun-shy in those moments.
The fact that Tatum trusted his talent and his preparation is what the greats do.
It doesn’t matter how many you miss if you truly believe the next one is going in.
Think of the swing in narrative/perception/legacy we witnessed.
As they say, it’s not about how you start it’s about how you finish.
Not bad for a guy who apparently doesn’t have a killer instinct.
Especially the one at the 4:22 mark of the 3rd quarter after the Sixers had taken a 64-62 lead.
The bench guards had a rough Game 5, but man did they respond in Game 6.
The lineup adjustments, the rotations, the timeout usage, it was all pretty close to perfect.
The players executing is why the Celtics won.
But Joe’s approach and game management was pretty damn flawless.
Did it feel like the Sixers P&R was killing this team last night?
I don’t think so.
That’s adjustments baby.
Unfortunately at the moment, he’s nowhere close on his jumper.
Over his last 3 games he’s shooting just 4-21 (2-16) which is a brutal 19/12%.
I’m not saying I need Horford to be Steph Curry, but I can’t have 19/12%.
I’ll take 30/30% at this point.
If the Celts are going to win Game 7, they need the Al Horford safety valve 3s.
- Everything about the 3rd quarter was gross.
Offensively, the Celts threw up 21 points on 36/14% with 5 TOs.
Defensively, they allowed 30 points on 52/42% splits.
As long as they can avoid quarters like that on Sunday, things should b OK. - Not enough attacking Maxey offensively for my liking.
The Celts need to find ways to attack him with their best players to tire his ass out.
Either score, or tire him out.
- Watching Jaylen slip on that wet spot, I thought that was it.
The same shit happened with Gallo.
The fact that he walked away unscathed was maybe the prayer of all prayers.
My heart dropped into my ball sack when that play happened.
I thought that ACL or something was toast.
Boy was I happy to be wrong.
You should not win games in which that happens.
Tatum, Brown, and Brogdon all had 4 TOs.
Those turnovers turned into 18 Sixers points which made this game way closer than it should have been.
Really poor decision making that just can’t happen.
We all know what happened last year in the playoffs when the Celtics were this careless with the basketball.
It usually means death.
They may have survived last night, but that is the exception and not the rule.
In Game 7, everything will come down to ball security.
With their backs up against the wall, this team responded.
That’s nothing new.
What comes next is the bigger question.
Can they build off their success.
Take care of business and move on to whoever wins NYK/MIA.
Tatum said it after the game, Sunday is about avenging what happened in Game 5.
Lock in, and the Celts will win this series.
