Celtics vs Heat ECF Redux Discussion Thread

Light-Tower-Power

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Posting here to avoid game thread nonsense, but I don't think the Heat really got THAT many better looks tonight than the Celtics. Celtics have really struggled from three, even with decent looks, while Heat have really shot lights out.
Tired legs in the fourth elimination game in a row. I don’t agree with those that think tonight was a “choke”. They lost Tatum and ran out of gas. The real issue is getting taken to 6 by Atlanta, 7 by Philly, and losing the first three games to this Miami team. They should have been so much better than that but they just weren’t. Not sure how to fix it but this group just struggles when it’s close and late and it bit them in the ass too many times.
 

bankshot1

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Credit to Miami for overcoming a crushing loss and making sure they did not end up as a historical note.

The Celtics could use a little of their resilience. Fuck.
I think coming back from 0-3 to get to G7 is evidence of resilience. What they need is maturity and toughness and a ruthless streak to crush an opponent. And as advised for months they need a real coach.
 

DeadlySplitter

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As someone in the game thread was saying (Jed Zeppelin?), our looks from 3 weren't as great as Miami's. That and injuries... Smart coming back to earth wasn't much of a surprise.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Posting here to avoid game thread nonsense, but I don't think the Heat really got THAT many better looks tonight than the Celtics. Celtics have really struggled from three, even with decent looks, while Heat have really shot lights out.
Disagree. The C's left shooters wide open all night on simple defensive breakdowns. The Heat didn't make those kinds of mistakes which is why so many of the Celtics threes were terrible Jaylen step-ins or other garbage early shot clock looks.
 

GeorgeCostanza

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I really really REALLY love the game of basketball and this Celtics team. I’m more sad than anything that I have to wait a few months to see them play again. This sucks the shit out of my ass.
 

NomarsFool

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In no particular order:

1) Jaylen Brown, maybe it's injury, but some of it has been the same issues for years - really was terrible tonight. Absolutely awful in just about every facet of the game.
2) Obviously, Tatum's injury. One can argue maybe he played too much, but he was still a more positive contributor than most they ran out there tonight.
3) Brogdon has been a key contributor on offense up until this series, and they really missed him.
4) Smart's defense has aged incredibly where he's now just the guy that tries to draw charges or gambles for steals. He had some big buckets before the game became a joke. but watching him stand in the corner and admire his 3P as it clangs - again - was too much for me. Either follow your shot or get back on defense. Standing in the corner is just stupid.
5) Rob Williams - it's a shame that, I assume, he doesn't have the stamina/conditioning at this point to play more minutes because he does seem to be a positive contributor out there. It just seems like they have to use him so sparingly.
6) Al Horford = Losing his 3P shot was really unfortunate. It also just seems like he was hesitant to let it fly because he didn't have the confidence. He played a lot of great defense, but a lot of bad defense as well. Just had to play too much, I think.
7) Grant Williams - what the heck happened with this guy? At this point, he doesn't even seem like a rotation player.
 

k-factory

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This post-season and this series gives you a chance to learn and get better.
This ending was more crushing than last years even if they had gone further.
If there is one thing you hope they learn it’s to value every possession and have focus.
These are gaps for this team.
If they don’t blow Game 2 they are not in a position where a fluke injury screws them.

This is the only thing that needs to change. It’s huge but it really is the only thing. The talent is there.
 

Auger34

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I think you run it back. This group seems to respond only when they hit rock bottom and getting absolutely fucking punked in a Game 7 at home is rock bottom.

Mazzulla will hire experienced assistants and have a year of experience himself. I have faith that this group can win it all next year
 

8slim

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I think you run it back. This group seems to respond only when they hit rock bottom and getting absolutely fucking punked in a Game 7 at home is rock bottom.

Mazzulla will hire experienced assistants and have a year of experience himself. I have faith that this group can win it all next year
I respect that you think these guys will be responding to this night 11 months from now.
 

InstaFace

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I respect that you think these guys will be responding to this night 11 months from now.
They showed the clip of Jimmy saying that same thing 12 months ago, that he'd come back and prepare enough to win it when he's in this situation next time.

Barring injury, there's no reason we can't be in this situation again too.
 

kazuneko

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I think you run it back. This group seems to respond only when they hit rock bottom and getting absolutely fucking punked in a Game 7 at home is rock bottom.

Mazzulla will hire experienced assistants and have a year of experience himself. I have faith that this group can win it all next year
If we don’t, can they fire him next year?
I don’t think they are going to fire him this offseason but I’m pretty certain he’ll be the least popular coach this town has seen in a long time. Literally every single fan I’ve talked to wants his head on a platter…
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Disagree. The C's left shooters wide open all night on simple defensive breakdowns. The Heat didn't make those kinds of mistakes which is why so many of the Celtics threes were terrible Jaylen step-ins or other garbage early shot clock looks.
I dunno. I mean MIA left shooters wide open too - Cs made a few of them (GW in the corner; JT off an OReb; White after a miscommunication) but MIA hit a lot of shots that were contested (i'll leave it others to determine which team had better contests).

To me, the story of the game was the first two plays of the 2nd half - JT missed a layup that would have cut it, what, 6 (?) when he realized he couldn't dunk and then Martin hit a side step 3P after a contest.

Downhill from there.
 

Scriblerus

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Mazulla needs 2-3 years to get there, and this team needs experienced leadership now. Mazzula did a great job for 2/3 of the regular season, but when the team got complacent, he had no answer. He was completely outmatched for much of the playoffs. The team has been bad at closing out games, especially against bad teams in the regular season which carried over against good teams in the playoffs. Players get hurt, but the drop defense against Philly, not calling timely timeouts all season, and the inability to plan against the zone killed this team. When the league knows the Celtics are relying on the 3, you need a plan for when those shots aren’t dropping. There didn’t seem to be much of a plan.

The players play, and they need to perform, but there’s a reason teams have a coach. I respect what Mazulla did this season, but the team just needs someone with more experience.
 

Euclis20

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I think coming back from 0-3 to get to G7 is evidence of resilience. What they need is maturity and toughness and a ruthless streak to crush an opponent. And as advised for months they need a real coach.
Agreed. This team is 8-2 in elimination games over the last two postseasons. Whatever their problem is, it's absolutely not resilience, or heart, or whatever it takes to get up off the mat and keep fighting when the chips are down.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Mazulla needs 2-3 years to get there, and this team needs experienced leadership now. Mazzula did a great job for 2/3 of the regular season, but when the team got complacent, he had no answer. He was completely outmatched for much of the playoffs. The team has been bad at closing out games, especially against bad teams in the regular season which carried over against good teams in the playoffs. Players get hurt, but the drop defense against Philly, not calling timely timeouts all season, and the inability to plan against the zone killed this team. When the league knows the Celtics are relying on the 3, you need a plan for when those shots aren’t dropping. There didn’t seem to be much of a plan.

The players play, and they need to perform, but there’s a reason teams have a coach. I respect what Mazulla did this season, but the team just needs someone with more experience.
Next season the Celtics can have a guy who has a lot of NBA experience like, say Budenholzer or a guy who inherited a job by complete surprise right at the start of the year as well as a thinned coaching staff, then guided this team back to within one game of the finals.

Mazzulla has been far from perfect but unless Tatum and/or Brown want him gone, he is likely back. I'm far more bullish than you and others on his ability to learn from this season. My guess is that if Boston were to fire him this off-season, he'd get looks elsewhere, if not for the upcoming season certainly down the road.
 

luckiestman

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Mazz is probably keeping his job. I just hope Brad doesn’t do it because of status quo bias. Assume the job was open, of the candidates willing to take the job, is Mazz the best one? If so, keep him. I was looking at some lists of who is available. It didn’t look great to me. Kenny Atkinson? Nurse is off the board and he was probably the only difference maker I saw. Brad and Wyc are in a better position to know than any of us.
 
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lexrageorge

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Mazulla needs 2-3 years to get there, and this team needs experienced leadership now. Mazzula did a great job for 2/3 of the regular season, but when the team got complacent, he had no answer. He was completely outmatched for much of the playoffs. The team has been bad at closing out games, especially against bad teams in the regular season which carried over against good teams in the playoffs. Players get hurt, but the drop defense against Philly, not calling timely timeouts all season, and the inability to plan against the zone killed this team. When the league knows the Celtics are relying on the 3, you need a plan for when those shots aren’t dropping. There didn’t seem to be much of a plan.

The players play, and they need to perform, but there’s a reason teams have a coach. I respect what Mazulla did this season, but the team just needs someone with more experience.
This team had the same issues under Ime and Brad. Firing the coach will not fix a lot of the issues that this team runs into when the 3's aren't falling.
 

kazuneko

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This team had the same issues under Ime and Brad. Firing the coach will not fix a lot of the issues that this team runs into when the 3's aren't falling.
I never remembering thinking that Brad or Ime looked overmatched in the playoffs. It's not just the late game collapses. There has been a lot to criticize with Mazz this season and I don't remember many people feeling that way with either of the last two coaches...
 
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kazuneko

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I think coming back from 0-3 to get to G7 is evidence of resilience. What they need is maturity and toughness and a ruthless streak to crush an opponent. And as advised for months they need a real coach.
You could also attribute that to them being a far more talented team who couldn't get their butts in gear until they were pushed against the wall.
When Charles Barkley was asked about whether Mazzulla should be back he didn't answer directly but did say the following: "They are so undisciplined and un-fundamentally sound...they win games strictly on talent" and "don’t even run an offense". Shaq "defended" Mazzulla by arguing "coaching doesn't matter" - hardly a ringing endorsement.
 

lovegtm

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It's funny to see people analyze this as a "they didn't have enough heart!" thing, or "the coach was bad!" thing.

Their all-NBA offensive superstar could barely move after the first play. The only real ways to win at that point are
- Jaylen steps up
- your role players hit 3s, including some off not great ball movement, because you're not going to get nearly as much great ball movement without Tatum initiating
- the other team's role players don't hit literally every 3, including lots off not great ball movement

None of those things happened. Blame Jaylen, blame the roleplayers for going cold, and blame Satan for accepting Pat Riley's soul.
 

lexrageorge

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I never remembering thinking that Brad or Ime looked overmatched in the playoffs. It's not just the late game collapses. There has been a lot to criticize with Mazz this season and I don't remember many people feeling that way with either of the last two coaches...
Brad and Ime had a full staff of assistants; Mazzulla did not. And Ime looked overmatched the first half of last season. Brad was outcoached by Spoelstra in the bubble loss to the Heat.
 

lovegtm

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Brad and Ime had a full staff of assistants; Mazzulla did not. And Ime looked overmatched the first half of last season. Brad was outcoached by Spoelstra in the bubble loss to the Heat.
People here acting like Brad didn't lose to Miami in 6 instead of 7, while having a best player with working ankles (sorry, Gordo, you were not the best).....and even WORSE 4th Q collapses.

They also took too many games to beat Toronto that year. This isn't a coach thing.
 

kazuneko

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So what are Mazz’s strengths as a coach? I certainly have no idea how to answer that. Again, not sure anyone struggled as much to answer that question with either Brad or Ime.
People here acting like Brad didn't lose to Miami in 6 instead of 7, while having a best player with working ankles (sorry, Gordo, you were not the best).....and even WORSE 4th Q collapses.
They also took too many games to beat Toronto that year. This isn't a coach thing.
Really? A 48-win Celtic’s team’s failure to win an ECF against a 44-win Heat -in the bubble- is just as bad as being the first team to ever lose to a number 8 seed in a conference finals? Come on. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that team was led by two gimpy Veterans and a 21-year old Tatum. Are you really going to suggest that people expected as much of them as this year’s team?
This team had championship aspirations-and expectations- from day 1, and they failed to even make it to the Finals because they couldn’t get by the lowest seed to ever make it to a conference finals.
And let’s not pretend there isn’t more reason to question Mazz as a coach than Brad (and even Ime). Brad was a highly accomplished college coach prior to being hired by the Cs. Ime, while not as accomplished as Brad, spent many years as an NBA assistant and was seen as one of the hottest coaching prospects in the NBA before landing the Cs job.
Meanwhile, when Joe Mazzulla was hired he was a 34-year old unknown with a resume that consisted of one year of coaching division II basketball and three years as an NBA assistant. No one was knocking down the door to hire Mazz, and it’s very likely that none of us would have ever heard of him had Ime Udoka been able to keep his dick in his pants.
So when people say that Mazzulla looks over his head, it may actually be because he’s over his head. I mean, fuck, his first coaching job was friggin Fairmount State where he coached one whole season and his second gig ends up being the Boston Celtics, NBA preseason favorite to win the 23’ title.
it’s an insane story, and we all would have loved it (and him) had it resulted in a fairy tale ending. Instead, we got a coach who kinda looked like he might better off at Fairmount State, and now, with the offseason finally here, the Cs can finally start the search for coach whose resume might suggest he’s the best option to take the team to a championship title next year. And while that might not be fair to Joe, Brad’s goal is to win a championship not a “nicest boss of the year” trophy.
 
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Imbricus

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What puzzles me about this series:

1. They knew they were going to see the zone. All series long they saw the zone. And yet, by game seven, they still didn't seem to have developed good zone-busting plays they could run.

2. Their three-point shooting stunk for the most part. Why didn't they try to get more minutes for Hauser and PP, consistently? I don't think you can just jam these guys in for 2 minutes every 3 or 4 games. They need more time than that to be effective.

3. Related to #2: "Oh, we can't use Hauser and Pritch, because their defense makes them unplayable!" Why don't they have other defensive schemes than "switch everything"? I know their main defenders are best as on-ball defenders, but why not another defensive scheme that makes Hauser and Pritch more playable on defense? And that could be use to throw the other team off balance more?

I don't think it's Mazz's fault they lost, but I'm not a big fan. Still angry at Ime, even though they might have done the same thing under him, who knows?
 

BigSoxFan

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What puzzles me about this series:

1. They knew they were going to see the zone. All series long they saw the zone. And yet, by game seven, they still didn't seem to have developed good zone-busting plays they could run.

2. Their three-point shooting stunk for the most part. Why didn't they try to get more minutes for Hauser and PP, consistently? I don't think you can just jam these guys in for 2 minutes every 3 or 4 games. They need more time than that to be effective.

3. Related to #2: "Oh, we can't use Hauser and Pritch, because their defense makes them unplayable!" Why don't they have other defensive schemes than "switch everything"? I know their main defenders are best as on-ball defenders, but why not another defensive scheme that makes Hauser and Pritch more playable on defense? And that could be use to throw the other team off balance more?

I don't think it's Mazz's fault they lost, but I'm not a big fan. Still angry at Ime, even though they might have done the same thing under him, who knows?
They weren’t able to slow down Caleb Martin once this series. Not once.

Caleb Martin.
 

Van Everyman

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We can analyze this all we want but their best player got hurt in the biggest game of the year on the first play of the game. In a game that had this much emotion and energy going into it, that killed their rhythm before it even started, they could never really find it afterwards and that was pretty much it.

There was a sequence early in the first quarter where the C’s were passing it around the 3PL and Tatum got the ball at the top of the key. He thought about driving, couldn’t and ended up making an awkward pass back and they ended up getting up a bad, contested shot. After a series in which their defensive effort determined their offensive success, last night it was the reverse: deflating offensive possessions that led to transition baskets.

Worth noting that every time they threatened to find their rhythm either the Heat made a big 3 or Tony Brothers called some bullshit. The offensive foul on Jaylen in the fourth which should’ve been either a no-call at worst or an and-1 basically resulted in a 4-5 point swing that turned the game from a competitive grind behind by 10-13 points into a blowout. They didn’t lose because of Brothers but he called exactly the kind of game you worried he might.

It’s a shame. Forget about losing, you wanted this game to be a classic and a stupid injury from the jump they couldn’t adjust to on a night where emotions were through the roof just sort of ensured that didn’t happen.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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2. Their three-point shooting stunk for the most part. Why didn't they try to get more minutes for Hauser and PP, consistently? I don't think you can just jam these guys in for 2 minutes every 3 or 4 games. They need more time than that to be effective.
I think this is one you can put squarely on the coach. Mazzula seems to have a very large and spacious dog house. It's well and good to try and send a message, but I think the risk is you can completely sap a player's confidence. Grant had a massive regression this year, to me, that's on Joe. It happened on his watch and when it came time that they needed him his playing time had been sporadic he was massively inconsistent, ranging from super helpful old Grant to net negative Grant. He was a 30 mpg player against this same Heat team last year.

Sometime during the Hawks series JM decided that Hauser wasn't playable. After building up the player into being a useful piece over the season he shoved him in the dog house until he finally unwrapped him in Game 6 with all the marbles on the line. And when he got out there they didn't run a single play to try and get him a shot. He was literally just a body out there. JM didn't do enough to keep the role guys in a position to succeed. He just expected them to perform when their number was called (he literally used those words in an on-court interview).
 

lexrageorge

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So what are Mazz’s strengths as a coach? I certainly have no idea how to answer that. Again, not sure anyone struggled as much to answer that question with either Brad or Ime.
What did Ime accomplish? His team was 4 games under 0.500 over last season's halfway point and damn near blew last year's Miami series in which Ime was outcoached by Spoelstra. Then Ime was badly outcoached by Steve Kerr in the Finals.

I understand why people may prefer Ime to Mazzulla, but I wonder how much of that is due to the way Mazzulla "answers" dumb questions.
 

Mooch

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The injuries just proved to be too much. Williams and White both got hurt and spent time in the locker room, Brogdon playing with a torn tendon and Tatum’s ankle in game 7… It’s a lot to ask of a team.

Disappointed in Brown who played like a shell of himself all series but put me squarely in the camp of Team Run It Back, with a few changes around the edges. This is still a top 5 NBA team with a young superstar who will continue to improve.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Maybe, had they shown up for games 1, 2. And 3, they would not have been in a position to be ruined by injuries in game 7.
 

Mooch

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Maybe, had they shown up for games 1, 2. And 3, they would not have been in a position to be ruined by injuries in game 7.
Totally fair, and this team would been steamrolled by Denver in the next round. But with an off-season to fully prepare, round out CJM’s staff with a real defensive coach and possibly upgrade a bench slot or two? Yeah, this is still a championship level team.
 

jezza1918

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Maybe, had they shown up for games 1, 2. And 3, they would not have been in a position to be ruined by injuries in game 7.
Yeah I sent this text out moments after the final whistle when I was still very emo about it…and it’s a bit simplistic but I still stand by it this morning -

“they lost this series in opening two home games. Tonight’s loss doesn’t even bother me as much as those games in a vacuum. They played a shit game and had to deal with injuries. Those two games they could’ve won both and should’ve won one of them. Bad games like tonight happen”
 

CoffeeNerdness

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What did Ime accomplish? His team was 4 games under 0.500 over last season's halfway point and damn near blew last year's Miami series in which Ime was outcoached by Spoelstra. Then Ime was badly outcoached by Steve Kerr in the Finals.

I understand why people may prefer Ime to Mazzulla, but I wonder how much of that is due to the way Mazzulla "answers" dumb questions.
I think it mainly has to do with the Ime squad played actual defense, whereas the JM squad would play good defense in spurts and then come out in the most important games of the year and have two defenders follow the screener leaving white-hot shooters like Martin wide open to can threes at will. I think the team stats that folks kept pointing to that showed the C's being a top-5 defense were an absolute mirage.

Stan Van seemed to imply that they were playing a different style of D last night than over the three games they won and if true that's ridiculous. In the games they won it was ball pressure, ball pressure, ball pressure, and last night it seemed like that completely disappeared.

Most people don't give af about how the guy answers questions.
 

lexrageorge

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Maybe, had they shown up for games 1, 2. And 3, they would not have been in a position to be ruined by injuries in game 7.
Exactly, the injury excuse is not going to fly. Miami had to deal with injuries this series as well. The Celtics, aside from Brogdon, were healthy in the first 3 games. They had a late lead in Game 2 that they blew. Miami dominated 2nd half of Game 1 and all of Game 3.
 

jezza1918

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Exactly, the injury excuse is not going to fly. Miami had to deal with injuries this series as well. The Celtics, aside from Brogdon, were healthy in the first 3 games. They had a late lead in Game 2 that they blew. Miami dominated 2nd half of Game 1 and all of Game 3.
Yup. I think injuries are a very valid excuse for last nights loss - which is why of the 3 home losses it is the least frustrating one - but NOT a valid excuse for the series loss.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Yup. I think injuries are a very valid excuse for last nights loss - which is why of the 3 home losses it is the least frustrating one - but NOT a valid excuse for the series loss.
This is really it. They underachieved this entire playoff season, not just in the conference finals. I'm not sure I can remember another team this talented that just could not close games. It happened constantly in the regular season and I made excuses and handwaved it off as a fluke, but it didn't improve at all in the playoffs and it cost them another shot at a championship. Atlanta should have been polished off in 5, Philly in 5 or 6, and they had double digit leads in the second half of both Games 1 and 2 against Miami and couldn't close either of them. The 0-3 comeback was admirable, but they put themselves in a position where a Game 7 could be decided by uncontrollable factors like injury luck, officiating, shooting variance, etc. and it bit them square in the ass. Not sure how you fix it but this is a major problem for this team and it hasn't improved one bit in the last few seasons. It's almost shocking how little it has improved.
 

Strike4

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Yup. I think injuries are a very valid excuse for last nights loss - which is why of the 3 home losses it is the least frustrating one - but NOT a valid excuse for the series loss.
The big thing to me going forward, bigger than the head coach or Jaylen Brown, is if this is a part of the Celtics culture now (the not closing games, losing focus, letting series go way long due to those things). The lesson from losing in the Finals to GSW was "we ran out of gas/had injures after two brutal series to get here". The same thing just happened in Game 7 of the ECF and Mazzulla is like "remember this feeling". ??? They had the same feeling after game 6 last season.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I think it mainly has to do with the Ime squad played actual defense, whereas the JM squad would play good defense in spurts and then come out in the most important games of the year and have two defenders follow the screener leaving white-hot shooters like Martin wide open to can threes at will. I think the team stats that folks kept pointing to that showed the C's being a top-5 defense were an absolute mirage.

Stan Van seemed to imply that they were playing a different style of D last night than over the three games they won and if true that's ridiculous. In the games they won it was ball pressure, ball pressure, ball pressure, and last night it seemed like that completely disappeared.

Most people don't give af about how the guy answers questions.
To arrive at the answer moving forward let's step back and review the past along with how NBA coaching functions.

Let's begin with the Head Coach who relies on his assistants to handle specific responsibility....Joe had Ime's second-row assistants as HIS right-hand men (kinda sub-optimal, no?). Blaming Mazzulla for this years defense completely 100% ignores the facts that we know (or should know if we are following) such as it was Mazzulla who ran the defense last year. Do we have this short of a memory to not recall that it was his defensive schemes which put him in the position to be a man of interest for other Head Coaching interviews? Pointing toward a couple of games following elimination wins as evidence of defensive breakdowns is kinda silly. There were multiple stretches in this game when the Celtics has the Heat offense shut down for 20-24 seconds and some of them ended with a made 3 as the shot clock was going off.

A quick 5-second search pulls up many stories of last year but here's one quote from Brogdon when he first arrived in Boston....


In a recent interview with Bally Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon suggested it wasn’t Udoka who crafted Boston’s epic defense. Instead, it was current head coach Joe Mazzulla, who was promoted from his role as an assistant after Udoka’s suspension this fall.

Brogdon was traded to the Celtics this summer. He told Bally Sports he didn’t know much about Mazzulla prior to arriving in Boston. Brogdon explained he quickly learned his new coach may have been responsible for his club’s vaunted defense.

“A few guys told me that he was sort of the mastermind behind our defense and everything in the Finals, and his game plan, his adjustments, and his scouting reports were really good,” Brogdon said.
 

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I think until the 4th quarter the teams were playing roughly even and Miami was just hitting looks that the Cs were not. I do not buy that there was any difference in shot quality at all; I think if anything it favored Boston. And, Miami was also getting the whistle (they missed Butler stepping on the out of bounds line before a Martin 3 just before the half I think -- should have been a 6 pt deficit at halftime) which they always seem to do.

But, you have to play 4 quarters and they lost it in the 4th.
 

kazuneko

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
2,994
Honolulu HI
What did Ime accomplish? His team was 4 games under 0.500 over last season's halfway point and damn near blew last year's Miami series in which Ime was outcoached by Spoelstra. Then Ime was badly outcoached by Steve Kerr in the Finals.

I understand why people may prefer Ime to Mazzulla, but I wonder how much of that is due to the way Mazzulla "answers" dumb questions.
The fear is that Mazzulla is way over his head, which is a valid concern for a guy with his skimpy resume. Press conferences aren’t particularly important but they do give fans their only chance to get a sense of how a coach interacts. So how does he come off? Over his head. Like a guy who could benefit from media relations advice from your average, socially skilled teenager. He also comes off as uptight and rigid, something that kinda fits considering how inflexible he has been with making adjustments in the playoffs and during games, and how tight his team has played throughout the playoffs.
 

lexrageorge

Member
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Jul 31, 2007
20,225
The fear is that Mazzulla is way over his head, which is a valid concern for a guy with his skimpy resume. Press conferences aren’t particularly important but they do give fans their only chance to get a sense of how a coach interacts. So how does he come off? Over his head. Like a guy who could benefit from media relations advice from your average, socially skilled high school kid. He also comes off as uptight and rigid, something that kinda fits considering how inflexible he has been with making adjustments in the playoffs and during games.
Scal and the beat writers go on all the time how Mazzulla is a completely different person from what he portrays in those press conferences.

Assistants matter, and Coach Joe had almost no help from his.
 

Humphrey

Member
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Aug 3, 2010
3,418
That was a huge swing.
That, and, being down 6 or 7 late in Q3, Butler drove the baseline, stepped out of bounds and it wasn't called. He then found Martin for a wide open 3. Celts responded with a 3, but that 3 would have made it a 3 or 4 point deficit and a lot more momentum.

You can see CJM pointing to the baseline. The commentators didn't say jack shit about it.
 

8slim

has trust issues
SoSH Member
Nov 6, 2001
28,212
Unreal America
Agreed. This team is 8-2 in elimination games over the last two postseasons. Whatever their problem is, it's absolutely not resilience, or heart, or whatever it takes to get up off the mat and keep fighting when the chips are down.
Unfortunately the issue is that they put themselves in backs-against-the-wall situations too often because of their lackadaisical approach when the chips *aren’t* down. Eventually that catches up to you, as it did this season.
 

greek_gawd_of_walks

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Apr 14, 2009
9,470
Wiscansin, by way of Attleboro
How exactly have Tatum and Brown ever played collaboratively together. They were never a great fit. They never found a symbiotic rhythm. Your turn, now mine. Brown needs to go.

It needs to be done. Brown is maxed out as far as a player goes. He's All-NBA in name only. If half a dozen other guys play the requisite amount of games, he's nothing in All-NBA terms as people are reminded his good, but far from great. The guy has zero handle, brutal defensively especially off ball, mediocre passer and shooter. He's not going to get better. And everything I just described paints an ugly picture for a guy as he ages out of his prime..make him someone else's problem.