Crunch time woes circle back in loss
C’s missed eight of final nine shots
The Celtics’ crunch-time offense has mostly been an improvement this season with some new personnel. But though their process wasn’t as poor over the final minutes of Friday’s loss to the Nuggets as the numbers suggest, there are certainly some plays they would want back.
The Celtics scored just two points over the final 4:51 of the loss as they missed eight of their final nine shots from the field in addition to two missed free throws by Jaylen Brown.
“I thought real-time, I liked the shots that we got, and I liked the spacing that we got,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Though the numbers looked bad in the final minutes, the Celtics got plenty of clean looks that would have flipped the narrative if they went down. Jayson Tatum missed a layup with 4:13 to go. Al Horford missed a wideopen 3-pointer off a wellexecuted pick-and-pop on the next possession. But on the next possession, Tatum misfired badly on a long two-pointer.
When Brown missed two free throws with 2:27 to go, Kristaps Porzingis grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it to Brown. Though he had a tough shooting night, finishing 1-for-9 from distance, Brown didn’t hesitate to launch a 3-pointer that missed. After another offensive rebound, Derrick
White missed an open 3-pointer.
The outside shot just didn’t want to go down for the Celtics. They trailed by one with a minute left when they ran an action to free White for an open corner 3-pointer that he usually makes, but bricked. That set up the final sequence of the game that included some questionable shot attempts. Still trailing by a point with less than 20 seconds remaining, Tatum grabbed a rebound and flew into transition, but went oneon-four against the Nuggets defense and missed a layup.
“I mean, your best player has the ball and an opportunity, and whether it was on two or three guys, you got a layup and he just missed it,” Mazzulla said. “So, I mean, the balance is you trust your best player to make a play, and he just didn’t make it.”
Tatum regretted some of his misses late.
“In those situations, you always want to be aggressive and then let your instincts take over and try to make the right play,” Tatum said. “But, I missed a lot of, missed a couple of bunnies at the end. I gotta be better and just really finish those.”
The Celtics had one final chance in the closing seconds. They trailed by two when an initial play call was stopped by the Nuggets defense and forced Mazzulla to call a timeout. Then on the final play, Tatum caught the inbounds pass but rushed his gametying attempt that missed badly after he shot it fading away on one leg.
“I think I kind of rushed it and that’s on me,” Tatum said. “In the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure if they were going to foul. They had a foul to give. But I had more time than I gave myself, so I should have taken some more time. But, can’t go back, so something I can learn from.”
Mazzulla, at least after the game, wasn’t upset with the late-game execution but suggested that Porzingis could have been more involved. Porzingis has been a big difference-maker in crunch time this season as the Celtics can give defenses different looks with his post-up ability, but he didn’t take a shot attempt over the final five minutes as the Nuggets made a critical adjustment.
“I thought we got at the rim at will,” Mazzulla said of crunch time. “Thought we had some kick-out threes, could probably get KP a couple of more postups but they put a small on him and they had both bigs behind, so they were able to crowd the paint a little bit, but I’ll have to go back and watch it.”
Overall, though the misses were frustrating, the Celtics were not upset about their crunch-time execution.
“I still think we got a lot of great looks,” Tatum said. “One of those times in the fourth quarter, we got the offensive rebound twice or three times and we had three good looks from three. And I feel like we just kind of missed some shots late in the game. But Joe said in the locker room, we still moved the ball pretty well for the most part, generated some good looks. Just didn’t go down when we needed them to.”
A little smooch
When White crashed to the floor after generating a three-point play in the third quarter, he did a shimmy celebration with his shoulders. But he certainly did not expect what came next. As Porzingis ran over to help him up, the big man gave White a kiss on his forehead.
What was White’s reaction?
“It was shocking,” White said. “But he’s a great teammate.”
White’s play in the third quarter was critical for the Celtics as Tatum and Brown struggled to find their rhythm, and the fans let him know, too. When he went to the free-throw line to complete that three-point play, the Garden crowd showered him with MVP chants again.
“I love the Boston fans,” White said. “It’s just great to have their support.”