No excuses if Celtics run ends early
BOSTON, M.A » There will be a finely crafted wooden floor for a stage Saturday night, but the Celtics would be wise to think of it as asphalt.
Every gym’s a palace of sorts in the NBA, and their college arenas were generally sparkling, too. And the people who get to this level got to play summer ball indoors away from the beating sun in AAU tournaments.
But Marcus Smart believes the Celtics need to go Old(er) School when they take on the Bucks in Game 7 of their first-round series Saturday night. The winner gets to keep playing. The loser sits.
“It’s like king of the court growing up,” said Smart in the wake of the 97-86 loss in Milwaukee that created this situation.
“You have to win. You don’t ever want to get knocked out. If we lose this game, we have to sit for months.”
So there will be a welcome desperation in the Celtic arsenal when they enter the Garden, and while each team has a valid explanation for an exit — the Celts’ injuries to two All-Stars, the Bucks’ youth and the fact they were the 7th seed — it would be particularly painful for the Bostonians to lose in their house.
They had been thinking about a championship before they lost Gordon Hayward in the season opener, and they still had designs on a berth in the NBA Finals before Kyrie Irving was lost for the rest of the season. But even with what’s left, this would be too soon to leave the playoff party.
“Yeah, we had a couple of things that didn’t go our way in terms of injuries and players down and guys having to do things they’re not used to and changing lineups and playing with different groups and things like that,” said Smart. “But that’s not an excuse. Everybody’s in the NBA for a reason. We’re all here because we can play. You’ve just got to go out there and play ball.”
And there is more ball that needs to be played for this team. OK, so The Finals are now a pipe dream
even in the wide open Eastern Conference, but Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier and even Semi Ojeleye need these reps. They need more exposure to life on the postseason planet.
A late Saturday night ending just won’t cut it.
“We can’t,” said Smart. “We can’t let it end.
“You know, we’ve been working hard. They protected their homecourt; now it’s our turn to do the same thing.”
It’s the Celtics’ turn to play with some wisdom — to move the ball and stay in position on defense and not let the Bucks burn them, 25-4, in fast break points as they did in Game 6.