Savoring a seventh
C’s excited for do-or-die showdown at TD Garden
MILWAUKEE >> After surviving an elimination game Friday against the Bucks, the Celtics explained the key to their survival was how fast they moved on mentally from a crushing Game 5 loss days earlier.
Now, they’re turning the page just as quickly to Game 7.
“It means everything. The best atmosphere in the NBA,” Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said of returning to TD Garden. “Game 7s are the biggest and best games. So (I’m) looking forward to it, truly. Just winning this game, giving ourselves a chance to go back. And this is it. Do or die. It’s going to be fun.”
Tatum’s 46 points in Game 6, a signature performance for the rising superstar, overshadowed a bounce-back effort from Marcus Smart, who scored 21 of his own. Smart has played in three Game 7s as a Celtic, tied for most on the team with Jaylen Brown and Al Horford. Together, Smart, Brown and Horford won Game 7 showdowns over the Bucks and Wizards in 2017, after Horford had already played in three do-or-die playoff games earlier in his career.
“Man, it means a lot. It means a lot. It’s going to be loud,” Smart said Friday night. “I’ve had a few Game 7s in Boston, and I just understand and know that being in the Garden is not a place you want to be on the road in Game 7.”
The Celtics dropped their last Game 7, an 87-79 tussle with the Cavaliers in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals dominated by LeBron James. Tatum fouled out that night, while going head-to-head with James and racking up a team-high 24 points. Brown was held to 13 points on an off shooting night, though that memory is far from his mind heading into Sunday’s tip-off.
“I expect it to be loud, I expect it to be fun, and I expect to be part of a great game,” Brown said. “I’m looking forward to it. (The) best two words in basketball are Game 7.”
Because they’re remain one game from elimination, the Celtics intend to keep the same focus they did entering Game 6. Not only ignoring the past, but playing with an edge that furnished a fast start in Milwaukee and ultimately allowed them to return home to the Garden.
“You’ve got to come out with the mindset like kill or be killed. Survival of the fittest,” Brown said. “We don’t want to be the team or feel like we should be the team that is going home. You come out, put your best foot forward, leave the past in the past and do the best job to execute in the next game.”
No update on Rob
Hours after describing Celtics center Robert Williams as “day-to-day” Friday night, coach Ime Udoka
repeated himself Saturday morning when looking ahead to Game 7 on Sunday.
During a video conference with reporters, Udoka said Williams’ knee injury is a matter of pain tolerance. On Friday, he revealed Williams suffered a bone bruise from a Game 3 collision with Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and added the team wouldn’t return Williams to the floor until he felt 100%.
The Celtics have gone 2-1 in Williams’ absence, though Antetokounmpo has ravaged the paint without his rim protection.
Williams, 24, also offered a decent option against Antetokounmpo when the 6-foot-11 MVP forced
switches early in the series. In Game 6, Smart matched up with Antetokounmpo more than any other Celtic and allowed him to score 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, plus one turnover, according to NBA tracking data; a stark contrast from the 1-of-7 shooting Smart allowed Antetokounmpo’s teammates combined.
Tatum: Game 5 loss fueled Game 6 win
As he rained fire on the Bucks in Game 6, Tatum admits his mind drifted a bit.
Back to Game 5, the unclaimed rebounds and lost 50-50 balls in the fourth quarter Milwaukee stole.
And that fear became fuel, driving Tatum to a legendary performance.
“That was in the back of my mind. That was in the back of everybody’s mind,” he said post-game Friday. “That we couldn’t get beat on those kind of plays and that our season was on the line. We knew that and we just had to dig deep, give it everything that we had.”
It was a delicate balance for the Celtics, who entered tip-off determined not to let any disappointment from their last loss bleed into an elimination game. And it didn’t, as they grew a 10-point halftime lead into a 13-point edge entering the fourth quarter. But then the
Bucks closed again, cutting their deficit to four points on two separate possessions .
According to Smart, Milwaukee’s late push didn’t force the Celtics to feel like they had to stop the bleeding with a sideline huddle or motivational speech. They just kept playing until they secured four more quarters Sunday afternoon.
“Everybody was just calm, everybody kept their composure, and everybody was just poised as we’ve ever been. And that was a sign of a team that’s maturing,” Smart said. “A sign that we’ve been here before, and it’s time to go handle business. And that’s what we did.”