Pick whatever word you want, we’re all saying the same thing.
I’ve lived through my fair share of disappointment watching the Boston Celtics over the course of my life.
I lived through KG’s knee injury in 2009.
I lived through losing Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2010.
I lived through the 2018-19 Celtics.
I lived through the 2022 NBA Finals.
In fact, the majority of my life with this team has resulted in some sort of disastrous disappointment.
But few things match up with what we are currently watching.
The 2022-23 Celtics had the best regular season we’ve seen a Celts team have since 2008-09.
After years of praying, wefinallygot a fully healthy playoff run.
So what have they done with such a great opportunity?
They’ve fumbled it.
I can understand losing close games, that shit happens.
Sometimes a player’s individual greatness takes over and there’s nothing it’s possible for you to do.
That is not what we saw last night.
We saw a Celtics team quit.
I mean Jaylen said it best
Yeah, you’re goddamn right it was embarrassing.
You’re goddamn right you let the fanbase down.
Listen, nobody is more love and trust than yours truly, but that is a two way street.
You have to give us fans a reason to love and trust you.
The Miami Heat have been the better and more complete team since the opening tip of Game 1.
What they are doing is not a fluke.
It’s not like a James Harden 40 bomb.
They have completely and utterly outplayed this entire roster.
That is why they are up 3-0.
The Celts are playing this way because the Heat are forcing them into it.
I would say their 3-0 lead is about as deserving as you could possibly get.
They are playing like a team that understands what is at stake and what opportunity currently exists.
The Celts are playing like…I don’t even know what.
You know what isn’t all talk?
What was possibly good in this game?
Rob’s effort maybe?
Let’s move on.
As we know, that is a Day 1 basketball no-no.
Especially in a game like this.
His arms go up and he complains.
He doesn’t bust his ass back and get into the play.
What happens as a result?
The same exact thing that always happens when the Celtics do this shit
Boom.
How do I know the Celts were losing their composure?
Because Joe immediately took a timeout after that Strus 3PM.
Think whatever you want about Tony Brothers and how this game started, but who gives a shit.
It’s on the players to be mentally prepared for noncalls/bad calls and play through it.
You know what doesn’t work?
Losing your focus from what you should be doing.
That’s when an opponent knows they have you.
The Celts were more interested in barking about calls than they were actually executing on either end.
That is losing basketball.
From there, things only got worse in this regard.
Once the lead started to balloon, the Celts got into it even more.
They lost sight of what was important and what they had to do to win.
Giving away free points isn’t going to help you.
Now your mindset is completely fucked.
Fine, OK, that’s whatever.
Butler immediately goes down and gets pretty similar contact and gets the whistle.
Look at every single Celtics reaction.
They immediately start complaining about the no call on the other end.
Even if they have a point, that’s not what is important.
Through that entire first half it was clear that this team was losing their mental composure.
In the 3rd quarter, there was more examples of a lack of composure.
I mean, what is Smart doing here?
I honestly thought he probably should have been tossed for that.
He clearly threw his elbow and just missed.
You’re down 18, the wheels are starting to fall off, and that’s the move?
There was no snapping out of it no matter how many timeouts Joe took to change things up.
Where’s the mental toughness that we’ve seen from this team?
The same team that found ways to come back from multiple 3-2 holes?
Because what I saw last night was a bunch of guys who played soft.
Who cared about complaining about the issues rather than stopping them.
That is why they deserved everything they got.
It’s been that way all playoffs.
If this team plays no defense, they stand no chance.
No quarter under 30 points in Game 3, just look at the point total in this series.
In Game 1, it was 123, in Game 2 it was 111, and last night 128.
I’m sorry, but that is pathetic.
For a fully healthy team with this many quality defenders?
Have some pride for me one time on the defensive end.
That obviously starts at the perimeter.
As we saw all season, the perimeter guys need to be able to hold their weight.
Does this look like it was happening in this game?
it was like this virtually all night.
We know this because that is how the Celtics usually thrive offensively.
No shit those were going in.
- On the offensive end, it’s easy to see why the Celtics are in this hole.
The entire roster’s ability to shoot the ball has disappeared.
The top 5 3PA players on this team has only ONE guy shooting over25%.
Of all the times to go this cold, they could not have picked a worse one.
For the series, the Celts are making just 10 3PM while shooting 29%.
They just have missed 71.5% of them.
- When the Celts are shooting this poorly while also not defending, you usually know what comes next.
Nothing about this is surprising.
The Celts have disaster turnovers issues against MIA, and it costs them games.
A total of 45 turnovers in 3 games, is that good?
No it is not.
Of that 45, Tatum is responsible for 12 and Jaylen 11.
Your two best players accounting for 23 of the 45 is an issue.
Did Brogdon look like he helped solve the zone at all or be that playmaker everyone begged for?
It looked the exact same.
Against the same exact team we just watched this shit happen with last year.
I didn’t even know that was possible.
The early timeouts didn’t snap them out of their funk, they just kept complaining.
- Speaking of bad habits, when things started to slide what did this team do offensively?
They went back to playing the exact way they shouldn’t.
Where was the ball movement?
Where was the cutting?
Where was trying to generate quality looks?
Instead it was more of the same.
That’s not an accident.
When this team doesn’t play the right way, they pay the price.
The Ugly
- As it always does, things start with the two franchise players.
Gabe Vincent outscored both of these players combined in the biggest game of the year.
On what planet is that even close to acceptable?
This wasn’t just a no show, they both played defeated.
I mean, what the hell is this?
Jaylen’s performance in this game and this entire series really feels just like Kryie vs MIL in 2019.
What the hell is going on?
The truth is, Caleb Martin has drastically outplayed Jaylen in this series.
That is WAY more of an issue than anything coaching related.
Your franchise guy cannot be getting outplayed by a Heat role player.
There has to be a baseline expectation there.
This does not mean breaking up the Jays.
I don’t think things always need to go to that extreme.
Jaylen is shooting 10% from three.
They’re just as careless with the ball as ever.
It does not matter who the coach is or who the role players are or any of that shit.
This team goes as Tatum and Brown go, and both were nowhere near an acceptable standard last night.
There was no punching and fighting until the end.
The entire roster collectively quit.
When things got tough, there was no punching back.
There is simply no defending that.
At some point in history, there will be a team that comes back from being down 0-3.
Not playing like this, that’s for damn sure.
