After failing to close first 2 games, Celtics don’t show up at all | Vautour

With 5:17 left in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, Kevin Harlan started thanking the cameramen on the TNT broadcast for their great work all series.

Usually, broadcasters save that stuff for the end of a series, or at least the end of a game. But by that time it was either thanking the underappreciated guys working behind the scenes or breaking down the geometry of Luke Kornet’s banked corner 3-pointer. The Heat were humiliating the Celtics and while the clock showed almost half a quarter left the game had been done for quite some time. Fans of Boston or competitive basketball had long since gone to bed or switched over to ”Succession.”

To be that noncompetitive was a stunning development for the Boston Celtics who entered the series as the betting favorite to win the NBA Championship. They strutted into the Eastern Conference finals fresh off smoking the Sixers in Game 7. They embraced their championship-or-bust, unfinished-business approach after reaching the finals last year.

Instead, the Celtics have been embarrassed against a less talented team. In Games 1 and 2, they were unable to finish. In Game 3 they didn’t show up at all. They shot badly and spent more energy yelling at the officials early than defending the Heat.

Given Miami’s annual success in the playoffs, losing this series might not have been enough on its own to put Joe Mazzulla’s job on the line. But the way they’ve lost games in this series can’t be giving anyone confidence in the Celtics’ rookie coach going forward.

If Monty Williams, Mike Budenholzer or Nick Nurse have begun pursuing any of the jobs that are already open around the NBA, they might want to stall a bit if the prospect of coaching this Celtics team with a wide-open championship window holds greater appeal.

It’s obviously not all Mazzulla’s fault. He did a nice job in a tough situation during the regular season. But his decisions have invited scrutiny making him an easy scapegoat. Mazzulla entered his press conference on Sunday seemingly intent on being accountable and taking the blame off of his players.

“I just didn’t have them ready to play,” he said. “I have to get them in a better place to be ready to play. That’s on me.”

That’s an admirable approach, but he didn’t execute it in a way that helped himself. It wasn’t him saying “I messed up, but I know how to fix it.” He owned the error but didn’t project any confidence that he knew which levers to pull to turn things around.

No NBA team has ever come back from down three games to none. But how they play in Game 4 will reveal something about the character of this Celtics group one way or the other. If they come out and battle like a team that’s trying to defy history and trying to keep playing together this year, even if they don’t win, it’ll send a message about how they feel about each other and Mazzulla.

But if the broadcasters are thanking the sound engineers and the guys in the truck with 5 minutes left again and the Celtics are playing like a team that’s resigned to its inevitable doom, it could be a volatile offseason.

Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.

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