You Couldn’t Write a Better Ending for These Celtics
Writing a good ending to a story is hard. But, for these Boston Celtics, their blowout game 7 loss was a perfect summation of who they are.
All throughout this postseason, Boston’s biggest enemy was themselves. Despite having all the talent and qualities of a contending team, they’ve shown us time and time again that they don’t have the it factor to get over the hump. Even after storming back from a 0-3 deficit to force a game 7 at home against a backpedaling Miami squad, these are still the Celtics. And they will find new ways to disappoint you. After a season of mismanagement, blown leads, and crappy defense, game 7 was the perfect ending for the 2023 Boston Celtics.
Do The Celtics Ever Learn?
The same problems that have plagued them throughout this series and season came back to haunt them in this game. Let’s start with everybody’s favorite coach, Joe Mazzulla. Despite Miami playing zone in every game this series, the Celtics looked like cavemen inventing fire every time Miami went to that 1-1-3 or 2-3 zone look. They kept putting Al Horford in the middle of the floor, but he looked like he was allergic to looking at the rim.
Instead of maybe flashing Tatum or Brown (on second thought…) or White to the middle so that they can create/play make, the Heat were glad to let Horford keep throwing up awkward shots/hurriedly passing the ball away. I don’t understand why the zone screws with this Celtics team so much. It’s not rocket science, guys!
Mazzulla’s rotations also didn’t make sense. Why was Malcolm Brogdon, a dude who shot 17% from three in this series and is dealing with a tendon tear in his elbow, getting minutes? Brogdon played 7 minutes, nearly killed the ball boy with his first shot, and was a -15.
Grant Williams got 16 minutes, which is more than Robert Williams! When Timelord was in the game, the Celtics played with some pace and liveliness. Grant Williams has struggled all year and has regressed heavily on both ends. Why is he getting so many minutes in the most important game of the year? He’s better suited acting like a coach on the bench.
Then there’s Boston’s shot selection. This season, for reasons I can only assume are analytical, the Celtics started shooting more threes. And when I mean a lot, I mean a lot. Boston’s offense improved, but it became too reliant on their outside shooting. When their 3-PT shooting faltered, everything crumbled.
In the last two games of this series, Boston shot a combined 16/77 from beyond the arc. At some point, you would think you would take a page from Derrick White and attack the rim more. The Celtics didn’t attack the rim as much this season, and it hurt them when their most potent weapon stagnated.
And it’s not even like the 3-pointers Boston was shooting were quality. They were forced and came early in the shot clock when hardly anything had happened. The amount of pull-up, contested, deep threes Boston settled for this in this series was infuriating. While Miami’s offense flowed and moved side to side, the Celtics were the complete opposite. Jaylen Brown, in particular, chucked up threes with a reckless abandon.
Most of these problems weren’t present over the Celtics’ three straight wins to save their season. But, when it mattered most, this team couldn’t put everything together. There were moments when they finally wised up and started attacking Miami. Derrick White was the only guy who seemed to notice that Miami’s perimeter defense is pretty poor.
And then there were the other little things that have just confused me about this team all year long. Why does Tatum always come out before Brown in the second quarter? Why can’t Jaylen Brown go left? What happened to this defense?
In a playoff series, you would think your adjustments would improve as things progress. As you see more of your opponent, you craft your game plan accordingly. Instead, the Celtics looked like chickens with their heads cut off in this game and for large swaths of the season.
What Happened to This Defense?
While Boston’s offense has been the main cause of their playoff shortcomings in the Tatum/Brown era, their defense this season was arguably more concerning. Last season, under Ime Udoka, the Celtics were one of the league’s top defenses. They swallowed opponents alive.
This season, everything took a step back. The rotations were slow and out of sorts. There were more breakdowns and miscommunications. Individually, I felt like Smart, Brown, Horford, and Grant Williams took steps back. Tatum spraining his ankle on the first play of this game didn’t help Boston defensively in Game 7.
It felt like Miami could get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Jimmy Butler repeatedly waltzed into the lane. Hell, Duncan Robinson was blowing by guys throughout this series. Miami abused Boston’s drop coverage and found success against the switching defense, too. As Boston continually struggled to get around Bam Adebayo’s (excellent) screens, the likes of Robinson and Strus enjoyed wide-open three after three.
It seems like this defense didn’t want it as much as last year’s group. There wasn’t as much accountability between the players or from the coach. I don’t think I ever saw Joe Mazzulla yell once. While Ime Udoka had a very short leash on his guys, the more laid-back Mazzulla didn’t have the same standards.
Maybe Boston underestimated Miami. Perhaps they figured this team of scrappy underdogs would be easy to contain. Who knows? But, when they needed stops the most in his game, they couldn’t get them. Every time the Celtics cut the lead to seven, Caleb Martin would answer with a three where there wasn’t even a defender in the same zip code as he was.
While the offense needs some tweaks both ideologically and materially, what can we say about the defense? It’s concerning that effort is being questioned for a team with title aspirations. After all that talk about how they were so hurt by last year’s finals loss, Boston didn’t show that hunger on defense.
And when their predictable offensive unsurprisingly stalled, they didn’t have that same defensive backbone they had last season.
The Miami Heat Deserve All The Credit in the World
Amidst all the talk about Boston’s future and this, that, and rest, we must give credit to the Miami Heat. Sure, almost blowing a 3-0 series lead isn’t ideal. But, I think it says so much about this organization about how they played in this game 7.
Against a more talented Celtics team, the Heat were missing their second-best scorer in Tyler Herro. Most teams would roll over and die, content with making the conference finals as an eighth seed. But not these Heat.
Throughout this series, they were defined by the production of their role players and their coaching. Erik Spoelstra completely flustered the Celtics with his zone defense. On offense, Miami never struggled to create open looks.
And where do I even start with the role players? Strus, Robinson, Martin, and Vincent are all undrafted guys. And they all played huge roles in this series with their scoring and creating. But, out of all those guys, Caleb Martin was the biggest.
There’s a reason the man played 45 minutes in game seven and 41 in game six. Spoelstra couldn’t take him out of the game. Not only was he making seemingly every shot he took (60% FG and 49% 3-PT in this series), he defended the wings hard on the other end. He was better than the two All-NBA wings across from him. All from an undrafted guy who averaged 9 points a night during the regular season. It’s the perfect summation of Heat Culture, which I’m starting to believe is devil magic more and more by the day.
After a demoralizing, back-breaking game-six loss at the buzzer, Miami did what they always do. Find a way to win. The cajones on Jimmy Butler and all these guys to dismantle Boston, even with all their momentum, is supremely impressive.
Against all odds, a team that was a couple minutes away from losing in the play-in tournament is heading back to the NBA Finals. It took a lot of good 3-PT shooting, grit, and playoff Jimmy to get here, but they did it. I don’t think another organization in the league can do what Pat Riley’s team has done.
Of course, the Miami Heat won’t be favored in the Finals against the much more well-rested Denver Nuggets. But I don’t think that bothers Miami in the slightest. And why should it? No matter the situation, you know this team will find a way to make things comfortable.
What’s Next for the Celtics?
Alright, back to this depressing, dead team. I’ve talked about Boston’s future a couple times already this postseason. After tonight, a few things have become a little more clear. Let’s start with the Jaylen Brown-sized elephant in the room.
While Brown is only 26 and still has room for development, this game was proof that giving him a supermax extension would be unwise. Getting outplayed by Caleb Martin isn’t exactly a vote of confidence, you know? From his apathetic defense to his inability to dribble left, Brown was terrible in this series. All of his turnovers were unforced, and his decision making was abhorrent.
Giving Brown all that money doesn’t make sense. While he and Tatum are a good pairing, there’s clearly a ceiling to this partnership. Teams have figured out how to stop the Celtics in the postseason. Despite being two of the most dynamic wings in the league, these two struggle in the postseason more often than not. When the going gets tough, Boston’s offense has failed them time and time again.
Grant Williams probably isn’t coming back. Derrick White will become a free agent after next season. Al Horford is aging, and Robert Williams is injury prone. This roster will be going through a lot of changes soon. If they decide to keep Brown and pay him ~$50 million a year (don’t do that), it hamstrings their ability to put good pieces around their superstar duo.
We could see Joe Mazzulla go, although with Nurse and Griffin already off the board, firing Mazzulla now wouldn’t make sense. Unless the Celtics love Monty Williams, who also has a history of struggling in the postseason, the unpopular Celtics headman looks like he’ll get another chance next season.
Of course, there are plenty of optimistic ways to think about this team. Tatum and Brown are still so damn young, and Boston remains an elite team in a lukewarm Eastern Conference. Nothing suggests to me that this will fall out of contention next year.
Still, it’s concerning that after all these years, with all these different coaches, Boston’s problems remain the same. It’s always the stagnant offense, the questionable coaching, and the iffy defense. At some point, you have to admit that this isn’t working and reset a little.
I wouldn’t be surprised if guys like Smart and Brown are gone next year. Maybe Brad Stevens looks at next as a retooling year and looks to the future to build a contender around Tatum. Boston’s isn’t handicapped to where they can’t make any moves, but running things back seems foolish. Something’s gonna give.
For a city and a franchise that hasn’t won a title in 15 years (and only one since 1986), this can’t be the standard Boston wants to set. While Heat Culture churns out overperforming squads with gritty, blue-collar players, Boston’s culture, if one even exists, continually fails to meet expectations.
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