East within reach
C’s hold on to win, seek No. 1
The Celtics clinched the Atlantic Division title, and took a one-game lead over Cleveland for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, with last night’s 114-105 win over Brooklyn.
Not that they’ll want to submit this result to the postseason judging committee. After leading by as many as 27 points in the third quarter, the Celtics fell prey to an 18-5 Nets run and spent the rest of the night at the Garden fighting to stay ahead.
The Nets cut their lead as tight as 103-97 with 4:02 left on a Brook Lopez baseline jumper that made the center the leading scorer in Nets history. He passed Buck Williams for that honor.
In the meantime, the Celtics were once again left to ponder their worst tendencies, including a brutal habit of allowing crushed opponents back into games.
“I think it’s mental. We don’t respect opponents,” said guard Avery Bradley. “We start to loosen up as a team. Don’t value possessions, we turn the ball over. Don’t defend the way that helped us get the lead. We don’t have that same intensity. If we’re going to be the team we want to be, we have to build off that 20-point lead, push it to 30. We should have the mentality that got us here with guys that prepare every day and work hard. That should be our mindset.”
Instead, spun in circles by Jeremy Lin’s non-stop pick-and-roll attack — the former Harvard star had 26 points, 12 rebounds and shot 16-for-17 from the line — the Celts sent Brooklyn to the line 17 times in the third quarter alone.
They were saved by Al Horford, who scored eight of his 19 points in the last 4:17, and a 27-point performance by Isaiah Thomas. Both combined to score the Celts’ last 15 points.
Brad Stevens, who said all along that his team isn’t as good as its record, raised the caution flag again, also referring to Sunday’s win in Charlotte, which happened only after first blowing a 19-point lead.
“We haven’t been very good in those stretches,” the Celtics coach said of how his team reacts with big leads. “We’ve been fortunate that it hasn’t come back to bite us, but we got to get better at that. Our guys know it. It’s all we were talking about during the Charlotte game, after the Charlotte game in the locker room, today before the game that’s what they were talking about in the huddle when we took the big lead.
“It’s a little bit easier to play when you are down like that because there is not quite as much pressure, but we have to play a lot better than we have in the last two games with a lead.”
That said, the Celtics are now in a position, with a win over Milwaukee in the season finale tomorrow night, to secure the East’s top seed and thus a firstround series against the eighth seed to be decided among Indiana, Chicago and Miami.
“The end result is all that matters but we definitely have to do a better job of controlling the game when we have these leads,” said Thomas. “Not saying to keep the lead at 27 but we just gotta continue to play the right way. We’re kind of comfortable when we have those leads and I gotta do a better job of controlling everything out there and making sure we’re playing the right way, especially when it comes time for the playoffs, because every possession counts and you gotta be even more locked in.”
Clarity only seemed to arrive against Brooklyn after it hit the Celtics with an 11-2 run early in the fourth against a unit composed mainly of reserves. The bench, after producing 23 first-half points, only scored 14 after the break.
But the Celtics, their lead chopped to 99-92 after the Nets’ fourth-quarter run, finally regrouped behind the scoring of Horford and Thomas, and the playmaking of Marcus Smart.
The teams combined to score on five straight possessions, including two hoops from Horford and five points from Lopez, before the Celtics dug in with a 6-0 run for a 109-97 lead on two Thomas free throws.
The sides continued to swap scoring possessions until, with 1:44 left, Thomas drove and converted a three-point play for a 114101 lead. The Celts finally had a comfortable cushion.
“We have to tighten up,” said Bradley. “The type of team we want to be, we can’t play that way. We have to be able to execute and finish games properly.”