Celtics had plenty of inspiration, from Kevin Millar’s famous words to watching ESPN’s ‘Four Days in October’
Celtics #Celtics
There have been some stink bombs detonated by Boston teams in big games throughout the decades.
This may have been the most foul of all.
On a postcard-perfect Memorial Day Monday, with the entire region braced for an 0-3 comeback that would mirror what those Curse-busting Red Sox did 19 years ago, the poser Celtics submitted a woeful Game 7 effort in the Eastern Conference finals and were thrashed by the so-much-mentally-tougher, eighth-seeded Miami Heat, 103-84, at the Garden.
So there. The Green Team’s spring of “Unfinished Business” is officially finished. And, sadly, the only takeaway is that your 2022-23 Celtics were front-runners/frauds.
Don’t take it from me. Listen to NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley. At halftime of this embarrassment, Chuck told the TNT audience, “Watching these dumbass Celtics play is making my head hurt . . . It’s so bad to watch them play. There’s no ball movement, there’s no body movement, and its frustrating watching a team with this much talent just play stupid.’’
Built to win a championship this year, gifted with a clear path for return to the NBA Finals, the Celtics spit the bit in Game 7, getting booed off the fabled parquet while submitting one of the worst Game 7 game efforts in Boston sports history.
The loss launches a summer of speculation for Boston’s rookie coach, Joe Mazzulla and the ever-overrated, “two Jays,’’ Boston’s bookend All-NBA guys, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (can we get a recount?). The Jays came up woefully short in this sad series and I’m beginning to wonder if Kyrie Irving’s brief Celtic stint somehow poisoned the pair. They are in the prime of their athletic lives and show little benefit from playing in four conference finals together. This was supposed to be their time.
In the gruesome finale, Tatum made 5 of 13 shots (1 for 4 on 3-pointers), and scored a meager 14 points. This after getting zero baskets in the fourth quarters of the first three games when the Celtics kicked the series away by losing three straight to a supposedly inferior team.
Brown, meanwhile, scored 19, but made only 8 of 23 shots (1 for 9 on threes) and committed a whopping eight turnovers.
Wow. These guys were a disgrace to Boston’s Game 7 legacy. Bill Russell (who died in July) was Mr. Game 7, going 10-0 in the ultimate game. He would not have liked this Celtic performance.
He would have liked the Heat with their 44-wins, seven undrafted players, and zero love from national pundits. Before this series started, ESPN geeks determined that the Celtics had a 97 percent chance of wining the series. The Celtics were favored by wiseguys in Vegas in every game, even after losing the first three and playing on the road in Game 4.
They managed to claw back into the series, but only because that was easy. It’s the hard that gave these guys trouble.
In the end, the Celtics lost to a team that needed two play-in games to make the postseason, got outscored during the regular season, and played without two of it rotation players (Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo). Poor Mazzulla was pantsed by Hall of Fame-bound Erik Spoelstra and Miami assassin Jimmy Butler (28 in Game 7) had his way.
The Celtics took a brief, early 5-point lead, but missed all 10 of their 3-point attempts in the first quarter and trailed, 22-15, after one. Brown and new local hero Derrick White were both 0 for 3 in the first 12 minutes. Tatum turned his ankle early and scored only 1 point in the period. Fifteen points and four turnovers was not what the Celtics were looking for out of the gate. It felt like we were watching the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.
When the Pistons ripped off 5 quick points to start the second to push their lead to 27-15, Mazzulla did the unthinkable: he called time to stop the bleeding with 10:41 left in the half. Boston’s kid coach would rather stick needles in his eyes than call time to stop a run by the other team. But all the rules go out the window in Game 7.
White missed Boston’s first attempt after the break. Another three. Zero for 12.
Al Horford finally struck gold from out top, putting an end to the dirty dozen.
A three by dinosaur Kyle Lowry and a Princeton backdoor layup by Duncan Robinson pushed Miami’s lead to an unthinkable 38-21. The Heat feasted on Boston’s stand-around defense.
The Celtics cut it to 52-41 by intermission, but it was a disappointing half by any measure. The Celtics made only 4 of 21 threes, shot 39 percent overall, gave up 20 points in the paint and 12 off the break. Tatum scored only 7, going 0 for 1 from beyond the arc. Martin had 14 for the Heat, Butler 11.
The first seconds after halftime were not great. Butler ripped off a quick 5 points and Mazzulla had to call yet another timeout when the lead was back up to 16 after less than two minutes.
The fourth quarter was bloody for Boston as boos rained down from the Garden’s upper decks.
The NBA Finals start Thursday night in Denver.
And the Celtics go into the offseason with plenty of questions, wondering if their coach is gone and if this might be the last we’ve seen of the Tatum/Brown/Smart Green Team.