This was an ugly game reminiscent of the Celtics struggles in the playoffs last year. All the old flaws were there on display:
- Poor ballhandling and a ton of turnovers
- Lots of offensive sets where just one player handled the ball, often ending with a contested three or a drive into traffic that got swallowed up
- Allowing Miami to do a ton of damage on the offensive glass
- Ballhandlers wilting under defensive pressure
- Poor contribution from the bench (aside from Grant who was excellent)
- Giving up a big (13-0) run in the 4th quarter and not showing composure down the stretch
- Letting weird and erratic officiating throw them off their game
Basically, Miami broke the vaunted Celtics offense and the Celtics spent a lot of the game looking uncomfortable and disinterested. (For the game, I mean, I don't think the Celtics will suffer lasting ill effects from this one, although it does suggest that they haven't gone nearly as far towards fixing last years playoff problems as it might have looked.)
A couple of things I thought were especially disappointing:
- I thought getting and keeping the Celtics out of ruts like the spent this game in was a big part of the reason why Malcolm Brogdon was acquired, but he played one of his worst games as a Celtic and didn't see the floor during crunch time. He played 21 minutes, shot 2 of 7, no assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and was a team worst -20. If it turns out that he is more of an offensive accelerant (makes the offense play better when it is already playing well) rather than a guy who can set the tone, he may not be the playoff solution I had hoped he could be. Too soon to judge, but this is exactly the kind of game I would have wanted to see him make a positive impact.
- Mazzulla had no in-game answers to this. Whatever he maight have said or tried, none of it impacted the game. Just one week ago, against Sacramento, with the Celtics looking lifeless and out of sync, Mazzulla went to fan favorite Payton Pritchard who sparked an immediate turnaround leading to a convincing win. Today, Pritchard did not even get a look. Even though he can handle the ball and the Celtics as a unit struggled to do that all game, even though the Celtics might have benefited from getting the crowd into it just as they did last week, Mazzulla did not even look at him.
Luke Kornet played only 10 minutes and hyperextended a knee. It didn't look good and IANAOS but it looked like he'll be on the shelf for a bit.
Jayson Tatum was awful: 5 for 18 from the field, 0 of 7 from three, only 6 trips to the line. He did have 12 rebounds, but he also had 5 turnovers. A lot of his threes were from offensive sets where 4 guys stood around and watched him launch a contested shot.
Marcus Smart had a solid in-the-paint game. He shot 8 for 14 overall in which he was perfect from 2 but terrible (1 of 7) from three. He also had 9 assists, usual for him, but also 4 turnovers, which was reminiscent of last year's playoff Marcus.
Jaylen Brown was the one star on the team who mostly managed to have success. He led the team with 37 points, on 12-23 shooting, including 5-11 from three, got to the line more than Tatum, hit 8 of 9 from the line, and hauled down 14 rebounds and had 5 assists. He was consistently willing to get the ball and try to drive, even as his teammates tended to prefer to stand around on the perimeter. He was able to get through some pretty thin seams to reach the basket, but sometimes he tried to drive through seams that went there, leading to 5 turnovers. When Smart, Tatum, and Brown combine for 14 turnovers in a game, it is problably not going to be a win for the Celtics.
Other than Brown and Smart, the only really strong performance was Grant. He scored 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting (4 of 6 from three), plus 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block in 33 minutes. He has been mastering the sidestep three and hit a couple of huge ones in this game.
White was OK, Kornet was mostly a non-factor before getting hurt, Hauser was mediocre in relatively short minutes. His line says 1 of 3 from three, but one miss was a halfcourt heave.
The officiating in this one was also bizarre, with all sorts of ticky tack fouls being called on both sides.
I wonder how much of this was due to the two straight home games vs Miami factor. Spoelstra had the chance to make adjustments after the first game.
This was probably a good game for the Celtics to have played at this point, because Mazzulla needed to see this happen from the sideline. He needs to fix this.