Fighting to save their season
Inner turmoil just one problem C’s must solve
Facing an 0-2 hole in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals against a tough and supremely confident Miami Heat team, the last thing the Celtics need is infighting.
But multiple reports from inside the NBA’s Walt Disney World bubble on Thursday night detailed a loud barrage of yelling, swearing and objects being tossed around inside a frustrated Celtics locker room after a 106-101 loss to the Heat. There were also reports of guard Marcus Smart storming out of the locker room as he uttered some choice words.
The Celtics did not hold a media availability session on Friday, so it was unclear to gauge if the fire had been put out. However, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens held a late-night hotel meeting with Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker to air out frustrations and discuss the problems. The report also stated that the C’s leaders sufficiently talked through their issues and were ready to prepare for Saturday night’s crucial Game 3 (8:30 p.m.).
In their Thursday night availability sessions that followed the loss, Stevens and players downplayed the significance of the shouting. Frankly, it’s not out of the ordinary for emotions to run high after a brutally disappointing loss that saw a team blow a 17-point lead in a highstakes situation like the conference finals. The Celts were in control of both Games 1 and 2 and coughed it up down the stretch.
Throw in the fact that these players have been with each other and secluded from the rest of society since July, and it’s pretty understandable as to why emotions might boil over.
If you take Wojnarowski’s report at face value and concede that the C’s have resolved their inner turmoil, that’s still only part of the battle. The Celtics now have to figure out how to play a full 48 minutes, without lulls in energy and execution.
Two things jumped out about the Celtics in Game 2. One was their 20 turnovers that contributed to Miami attempting 18 more shots from the field than the C’s. The other was the Celts’ inability to beat the Heat zone defense in the second half.
“I mean, it’s a hard zone to play against,” said Stevens. “We did play well against it in Game 1, we played with way better pace than we did (Thursday night). So we’ll go back and look at it and figure out if it was a technical thing, or a pace thing, or an execution thing, or just a not as focused on the important stuff thing.
“This isn’t about zones, and defenses, and offenses, and stuff like that. It’s just we got to be better.”
Those failures against the zone intertwined with another major Celtics’ pitfall in the playoffs — third quarters. The C’s have been outscored in eight of their last nine third quarters. They also led or were tied at the half in each of those contests.
“Man, they outplayed us,” said the point guard Walker when asked what led to his team getting outscored, 37-17, in the third frame on Thursday. “It was really unacceptable on our behalf, it was just a really bad quarter for us. We didn’t continue to do the things that we did to get us up and give us that lead. We got kind of comfortable and those guys took advantage of it. They played hard, they played really hard, they played a lot harder than us. They wanted it.”
At this point, with the Celtics eight wins from a championship, effort and desire should not have to be questioned. Meanwhile, the Heat seem to be thriving in their execution and energy level. They only have 21 turnovers in the two games combined.
“We got to figure some things out,” said Tatum. “We’ve had a couple doubledigit leads and we’ve let go of the ropes, so we got to figure out why that keeps happening.”
Perhaps help is on the way. Injured Celtics forward Gordon Hayward (right ankle sprain) has been upgraded to questionable for Game 3. Hayward has been out since sustaining the injury during Game 1 of the firstround series against the Philadelphia 76ers. If he does not play in Game 3, Game 4 will not be until Wednesday, giving him a couple extra days to prepare.
Hayward’s passing and ability to make plays off the dribble would be a huge help against that Miami zone. He would also provide depth to a thin rotation.