TURNOVER A NEW GRIEF
Celtics know that they need to take better care of the ball
SAN FRANCISCO — If the Celtics want to do a better job of protecting home court than they did in the last two rounds, they will need to start doing a much better job of protecting the ball.
Sloppy ballhandling once again proved costly to the Celtics, whose propensity for committing turnovers has been a recurring problem during this playoff run. Boston gave it away 19 times in a 107-88 loss to the Warriors in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night to tie the series at one game apiece.
“It’s just kind of as simple as we’ve just got to take care of the ball,” Jayson Tatum said. “We’ve done it, and we’re a really good team when we take care of the ball. But we have those lapses where we, snowball effect, we pile on turnovers and dig ourselves into a hole.”
The Celtics managed to shoot their way out of their turnover woes in the first half of Game 2 by making 10 of 19 three-pointers to stay close to the Warriors.
But when the shots stopped falling in the third quarter, the turnovers were too much to overcome, sending the Celtics home disappointed despite a Game 1 victory.
“For whatever reason, the previous series that happened to us. On our wins, we didn’t turn it over; on our losses, we turned it over excessively,” forward Al Horford said. “It’s something that we’ll have to look at this game individually and just see how we can be better. I know we can prevent a lot of those, and in order for us to be in a better chance of winning, we have to cut those down.”
The Celtics have committed an average of nearly four more turnovers per game, leading to nine more points per game for the opponent in their losses compared to their wins.
Boston is 1-5 this postseason when committing at least 16 turnovers, compared to 12-2 when giving it up 15 times or fewer.
“We had our opportunities,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “Came out, jumped out up nine early. Then turnovers started happening. Let them back in the game. Then the offense wasn’t as crisp with the ball movement and passing. Like I said, 11 of our turnovers were live ball turnovers, nine of them out of steals. So got to be better in that category.”
There were plenty of culprits, with Marcus Smart committing five turnovers, Tatum four and Derrick White three.