The Celtics Lost Another Heartbreaker And They Really Only Have Themselves To Blame
So after I spent a solid 6 hours staring at my ceiling last night, I start today with many of the same feelings I had when the final buzzer sounded. Part of me was happy with what I saw from the Celtics, they took what many consider to be the best team in the league who finally had their two best players active in the same game. and pushed them to the limit. All with a hobbled Smart and without Gordon Hayward. If you were someone that went into this game with the idea that this could tell us how close we are to that Clippers level, I think we all wake up this morning feeling like whatever gap there still might be, it's perhaps not as large as we may have thought going in. That's the positive side of my brain. The rational side is angry because they choked this game away. I think it's OK to admit that. You have a double digit fourth quarter lead and then a 7 point lead with 2:21 left, if the Celts want to be as good as we all want them to be, that's a game they have to win. Period. At that point it doesn't matter that you don't have Hayward, it doesn't matter that you missed 16 straight threes earlier, you had every single opportunity to win that game and you blew it down the stretch. Poor offense, bad transition defense, poor lineup decisions, it was a choke job plain and simple.
Now obviously this result is better than if they had been blown out and never even competed at any point of the game. If the young kids couldn't rise to the occasion, all that shit. But what did I tell you about these West Coast trips, there is going to be weird shit and it is going to rip your heart out and take a shit down your throat. That's pretty much what happened in both SAC/LAC and frankly if the only way the Celts lose is through excruciating finishes then I may not make it all year.
It feels wrong to completely give this team a pass and just hang your hat on a "moral victory" because that's not the goal. The goal is to get real victories against the best of the best. If you want to be among the best in the league, that's what has to happen. The Celts had their shot and they let it slip which wasn't great, and now we'll see how they respond again to another heartbreaking loss with a very tough game to end the trip in DEN. But before we get to that, let's talk about what we saw.
The Good
- It's a pretty common thing when talking about the potential growth of Jayson Tatum that he is often compared to other star wings like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. You look at what all three of their Year 3s looked like, it's pretty eerie. Well, last night Jayson Tatum went into the lion's den and outplayed both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. At 21.
It was the second best scoring outing of his career, he hit the biggest shot of the night in another late clutch situation, and I think it's safe to say this may have been our best evidence of Tatum potentially being that #1 franchise guy. Is that a little bit of an overreaction? Sure, but look you go up against those two All NBA wings and you put up this type of performance I'm sorry the hype is warranted. He also held both PG13/Kawhi scoreless in the limited possessions he had defending them. This was a game where Tatum showed up on both ends and I'm at the point now where I am ready for him to be their closer full time. Kemba is nice and he can hit big shots, but the team needs to play through Tatum in these big spots. He's proven he can handle it.
That's the one issue I really have with how this team finished. In no world is it acceptable that Tatum can have the second half he did and only get 1 FGA in the all of his fourth quarter and OT minutes. That's a miss by everyone, from his teammates to Brad.
- If there's one positive you can truly take away from this game it's on the defensive end. After a few games where that end of the floor was shaky, the Celts put on an absolute clinic led by guys you may have heard are decent defenders
Huge shoutout to Jaylen Brown, someone that really struggled offensively but played maybe the best defense he has all season against two impossible covers. Remember, Paul George is coming off games where he is dropping like 37 points in 25 minutes and Kawhi is Kawhi. To see Jaylen handle both of them like this has to make you excited about his growth and potential as a defender. Smart had his issues with George (9 points on 10 possessions), but he more than held his own against Kawhi, even when Kawhi took him to the block.
It was the defense that even gave the Celts a chance to win this since their offense was so horrific to start, and you go on the road and hold LAC to 41/37% splits and cause 23 TOs, well that tells me they can defend almost anybody, even shorthanded.
- Watch what Daniel Theis did in this game and tell me that wasn't a vintage Al Horford performance
The defense, the rebounding, the passing, people who don't really watch this team keep talking about how the Celtics need big man help to be a contender. To me that's just exposing themselves for not really watching what Theis is doing. I know he's not a household name, and I know he struggles in certain matchups, but his production has been real and consistent since the very first game of the season.
It was a little frustrating how he relied a little too much on the tap out instead of just grabbing the ball, especially late, but Theis has been awesome to start the year and is doing a damn good job in filling that Horford hole.
- One of the biggest surprises of this start has to be how steady and consistent Brad Wanamaker has been. We're seeing why Brad loves and trusts him and he's continued to be their best bench player for basically the last 9 or so games
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He absolutely has earned his minutes and if he can just get his turnovers under control he'd practically be a flawless reserve guard for this team. I love his patience, I love how dependable he appears to be, and it's such a drastic change from the reserve guard play we had last year it's beyond refreshing.
- Celts tied LAC in rebounding, they won the points in the paint battle 52-32, they won the second chance points battle 14-10, the fastbreak points battle 17-8, had 18 OREB and still lost. I can't remember a time all that happened and they didn't win, but you love the effort and the compete levels in areas they are supposed to be getting killed in.
- Say what you want about him, but Enes Kanter kept the Celts in this game early with his 8/6 in 12 early minutes. He's a useful player in certain matchups and he won't be perfect defensively, but he can help this second unit.
- I'd say we got the full Marcus Smart experience in this game. There are stretches he does some heroic shit, makes a play that few in the league can make
and then there's the other side of the coin where there are possessions his shooting and shot selection can hurt you. We'll get to more of his night in a later section, but for a guy on a bad ankle to play the defense he did and then be the playmaker he was, overall they aren't in this game without him. Remember, you may not love his 20 FGA, but you have to look at it in context. He had the Clippers worst defender on him and by now you should trust him with the ball in his hands. It was also Smart's back to back baskets that got the Celts that 7 point lead late in the first place. You have to take the good with the bad when it comes to Smart, but yeah it stings that the SAC loss and this loss came down to his inability to finish late.
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The Bad
- How could we start any other place. The offense was so bad, and that's kind of becoming a trend that I don't exactly love. Obviously with Beverley/George/Kawhi this team is going to be a force offensively, but even still you need to be putting up better than 39/26% splits. Another slow start in the first quarter with 34/0% splits and the 0-16 start from three that's just shit you cannot do on the road against an elite team. The looks were good for the most part so it wasn't like they were forcing bad threes or anything, it was just one of those nights.
It was clear pretty much from the jump that Beverley was giving Kemba all sorts of problems. We're starting to see some instances where if you put real ball pressure on Kemba he kinda spazzes out a little bit. He really struggled once he got by his initial defender, it felt like he got his shit pinned on the glass about 10 times, and his 4-17 with 2-5 in the 4th and 0-1 in OT was too much to overcome. He had a pretty brutal last minute or so with missed jumpers and turnovers, and it's OK to admit that Beverley was a big time issue for him.
When Smart/Kemba/Jaylen combine to go just 5-28 from three, that's bad no matter how you slice it up.
- Lou Williams tore Brad Wanamaker up and it was not pretty. A total of 13 points on 19 possessions, Lou Will was a huge difference in this game like he so often is. He had 21 second half points, his dagger three after dagger three and that's something that makes this Clippers team so dangerous. They have so many weapons that know how to play together and there was not one time where Williams shot the ball that I wasn't convinced it was going in. What a scorer that dude is.
- So let's talk about the final 6 or so minutes. My first issue came with about 6:15 left after Kemba's three put the Celts up 10. The Clippers took a timeout, yet Brad did not put Tatum back in the game. Out of the timeout Beverley hit a three, and after a Wanamaker TO and foul, Tatum and Smart came back in but the momentum had already started to shift. Harrell got a dunk to cut it to 5, Kemba turned it over and Smart had a poor three which led to another Lou Williams three and boom. Two point game. I would have thought Brad realized how important this game was and put Tatum/Smart back in sooner, and it cost them there.
Then we get to the 2:21 mark. Another Beverley three cut it to 4, Kemba misses a three, Harrell dunks and boom. 2 point game again. More Smart missed three and Kemba misses which led to a Lou Williams three. You see a pattern here? It felt like on one end both Smart and Kemba wanted to be the hero and hit home run instead of singles, and then on the other end for whatever reason they stopped defending the three point line. Brutal late game execution from everyone involved and again, Tatum isn't even getting one look. That's bad.
The Ugly
- Listen, we all know the officiating was suspect, and both teams have their reasons for being upset. However, there is no denying that Kemba Walker was boned big time. These two plays in particular
Those are two pretty blatant calls/missed calls that you just can't have late in games or really ever. I don't really care that much about the missed George push off because even after that FT the Celts were still up 7. The noncall on Lou Williams came when the Celts were in the bonus and most likely Kemba makes both those FTs to give them a late lead. Instead as we know Williams went to the line that eventually led to Tatum's tying three.
The blocking call was equally as painful since it immediately led to another Beverley three, and it sucks that shit like this even happens. But if you truly want to be mad, don't be mad at the officials, be mad that the Celtics put themselves in this position to be boned by the officials in the first place. That's the true issue.
- Patrick Beverley was shooting 18% from three this season heading into this game. He had a total of 0 games with 4 3PM. Naturally he was the one who killed this team with dagger threes because again, West Coast trips are weird and when shit goes bad it's always the thing that will kick you in the dick the hardest.
- It's very annoying this team is two terrible collapses away from being on a 13 game winning streak. Sigh.
So look, on the surface, there is probably more positive to take away form this game than negatives. We learned this team really can hang with anyone in the league on any given night and the growth we continue to see from the young talent is encouraging. If they figure out how to close games strong shit like last night won't happen, and we'll see if they have that resilient mentality tomorrow night because make no mistake, the Nuggets are every bit a monster that the Clippers are. They are playing great right now and there's a big difference between ending the trip 3-2 and 2-3. Finish strong and let's get the hell back home.