The Celtics Massive Game 6 Win Was Truly A Microcosm Of Their Entire Season
There's really only one way to begin this blog. I know we're all excited, relieved, scared, confident, encouraged, pick whatever adjective you want. The way the Celts fought to keep their season alive last night was the stuff of legends.
But what do I always say, both in the good and bad times? Perspective is important.
Forcing a Game 7 is not winning a series. The hardest part is still yet to come in this series, and let's not pretend that
A). A team can't lose a Game 7 at home
B). The Celts have been a wagon in their own building.
The same way the Celts didn't assume they could walk into Philly and win, they cannot just assume they'll win Game 7 because they won Game 6 and are now at home. They need to play with that same hunger, that same determination, and that same defensive effort.
As long as you acknowledge that there is still more work to do, I think it's more than fair to continue to inject the Celts Kool Aid from Game 6 directly into your veins over the next 48 hours. Just think of what the alternative could have been had things gone south last night.
This game, and really the entire series, has been a microcosm of their entire season. The ups and downs, the stretches of dominance and incompetence all at once, the heart attacks, the huge threes, it's as if the Celtics can only operate in chaos. As fans, we wanted this team to show us why there are some of us out there that still believed in them even after the disaster of Game 5. We needed to see an answer.
Boy did we get one.
The thing is, we did not see the Celts at their ceiling offensively last night. They only scored 95 points and shot 42% from the floor! There are higher levels they can go to, and will need to go to on Sunday if they want to win this series. That's the encouraging part. The Celts went down to Philly and stole this game while not even playing at their highest level offensively.
Let's talk about it.
The Good
- If you watched this game, you understand there is honestly only one place to begin. There's a reason the Celtics won this game and kept their season alive, and his name is Marcus Smart
Given the circumstances, this may have been the best Marcus Smart playoff game of his career, and he's had a lot of big ones. After two days of morons and losers going back to the same old "The Celtics need to trade Marcus Smart" routine, he once again showed why he's not only loved and trusted by all, but also why the idea of trading him is absolutely ridiculous.
HE SAVED THE FUCKING SEASON.
Once again, it was Smart who put this team on his back early. That big start the Celts had in the first quarter? That was Smart. He had two 3PM, a huge steal, and was a +15 in his 8 first quarter minutes. He set the tone on both ends, and I'm working on a theory that when it comes to Smart and 3PA, they need to be coming at the very beginning of games. This was now the second game in a row we've seen Smart nail two early threes, and the numbers are starting to back this idea up.
In the 1st quarter of these playoffs, Smart is shooting 50% from deep. In this series, he's shooting 66.7% from deep in the first quarter. That dips drastically to 20% in the 4th, but that makes sense. Given what he has to do in a game, his legs are probably shot by the 4th. Given how slow Tatum has been starting these games, the offense Smart has been able to provide has been beyond huge.
Overall, there were a few things that stood out to me with this performance. It's very clear that Smart recognized that with the double bigs, if he can find a way to get into the paint and have his defender on his hip, as long as he's patient it puts Embiid in an imossible spot. If he creeps up to stop a floater, Smart will just lob it to Rob. If he stays too far deep, Smart can easily finish in the paint. It's no accident that down the stretch we saw him go to this play on back to back possessions, and I'm not sure what the Sixers adjustment is. Nobody understands how to get Rob the ball in those spots better than Smart, and it showed last night.
We then had the most Marcus Smart Experience of all time in the final 90 seconds. So much so, we need to break it down by frame.
At this moment, we all probably said the same thing. Some form of "BE SMART". A huge stop, the clock in your favor, Smart put out his arm for everyone to take a breath and relax and it looked like they finally understood the moment.
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At this moment I thought, OK, this is Smart just trying to get into some space because Harden is sneaky crafty at poking for steals, Embiid is right there, just get to space, get over half court, and just hold on.
It was here that I started to get both confused and very nervous. Smart wasn't slowing down. In fact, he was speeding up?!?!? While he found space, he also found himself surrounded by literally every single Sixer. At this point I was thinking was he going to push it all the way to the rim and force Melton to rotate and then just dish it to Al? I'm pretty sure this was also the point where I stopped breathing.
Full blown panic at this moment. After telling everyone to be patient, Smart did the exact opposite and pushed the ball, found himself in traffic, and it was at this point where it would not have shocked me at all if the Sixers stole this ball and then went down on the other end and hit a 3PM. That's how this season has gone. I couldn't believe what I was watching given the situation.
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I gasped.
I don't want to sound dramatic, but it felt like that ball was loose for 45 seconds. It just kept bouncing, nobody was touching it, and I'm pretty sure my entire life flashed before my eyes. In this spot, first to the floor wins.
Smart somehow beat 3 Sixers to the ball because of fucking course he did, and look at Joe at the top left corner. Look at what he's doing. He's only calling the biggest timeout of the entire Celtics season. What a moment for him and for me personally. While the Celts didn't score again until the 37 second mark, this sequence was so perfectly Celtics and so perfectly Marcus Smart, I wouldn't have it any other way. The chaos is what makes this team so addicting.
Overall, when this team needed their heart and soul, the heart and soul showed up. Not just from a mentality and energy standpoint, but a production standpoint. He backpacked this team while the Jays had their offensive struggles. It's still crazy to me people see huge playoff games after huge playoff games and still believe that this team needs to trade Marcus Smart. Please be serious.
- As important as it is for the Celts to execute offensively, you'll never be able to convince me that their ceiling and ultimately their success isn't tied to what they do on the defensive end. It couldn't be clearer just by looking at this series.
Wins: 87, 102, 86 points
Losses: 119, 114, 115 points
When this team defends to the level we know they are capable of, they are suffocating. The Sixers had quarters of 22, 21, 30, and 13 points. The game turned when the turnovers started/defense regressed and they finally allowed a 30 point quarter. The game was won by everyone locking in for the 4th quarter and allowing 1 FGM over the final 6+ minutes.
Defense isn't just about forcing misses, it's also about finishing off defensive possessions clean. The Celts dominated the rebounding battle 50-38, and allowed only 6 OREB for 8 total 2nd chance points. That was massive.
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It wasn't just due to the double bigs either. While they were awesome with 20 total rebounds, it was a collective effort. There was no Celtics starter who finished with under 6 rebounds. Even Brogdon came off the bench and gave you 6 DREB. When you're in an elimination game and your season is on the line, you have to limit 2nd and 3rd chances. That requires you to own the defensive glass, and that's exactly what we got.
In terms of limiting their best players, it's hard to get much better than what we saw
The double bigs allowed Horford to be a little more aggressive with Embiid knowing that Rob was there as a roaming defender. Their length made a real impact not just on Embiid, but every Sixers player. They finished with just 32 points in the paint and were just 3-17 in the paint (non restricted area). If you're curious what they did in Game 5, it was 9-17. Pretty massive difference.
That's the length of both Rob and Al. They completely took that zone away from the Sixers offense which put even more pressure on them to hit their outside shots. With Rob not giving a shit about PJ Tucker, it forces Doc to make a choice. You can either play a guy who probably can't be relied on to consistently make 3s, or you can take him out and put in Niang, who is a worse defensive option. The double big decision has put the Sixers in a difficult spot, and I'm not sure what the adjustment is.
- I suppose this is where we can talk about Jayson Tatum. Let me try and put in perspective what we watched and how crazy it was.
For 43 minutes, we were watching the worst performance from a star player maybe in NBA history. For the second straight postseason, it looked like the Celtics season was going to end because their franchise player laid not just an offensive egg, but one of the worst eggs we've ever seen. His entire legacy as a player was on the line and I don't think that's an exaggeration. He was 1-14 (0-6)!! While it's true that Tatum was awesome in other areas that definitely played a factor in why they were able to build that lead, at the end of your day your franchise guy needs to make shots.
At the 5 minute mark Joe told Tatum he loved him and the rest was history
The mental toughness it takes to not only make those shots over the final 4 minutes but to actually have the guts to take them given how badly you were struggling is insane. Plenty of other guys get gun-shy in those moments. The fact that Tatum trusted his talent and his preparation is what the greats do. It doesn't matter how many you miss if you truly believe the next one is going in.
Think of the swing in narrative/perception/legacy we witnessed. We went from what could have been a potentially career-damaging moment to one of the best playoff closes in NBA history. As they say, it's not about how you start it's about how you finish. So much talk about this team in tight spots at the end of games, and for the second time this series Jayson Tatum went into Philly and made dagger three after dagger three, just like Game 3.
Not bad for a guy who apparently doesn't have a killer instinct. We all wanted to see the Game 6 Tatum that we saw in the MIL series, and guess what we got?
Eerie.
- I'll never understand why Malcolm Brogdon can't seem to make a layup, I understand his turnovers were absolutely brutal and are the exact opposite of what he was brought in to do, but there's no denying how massive he was in this win. His shooting is what helped the Celts regain their separation in the first quarter after the Sixers run, and that was the exact type of shot making the Celts were missing last postseason
- Some very timely Derrick White buckets as well. He didn't shoot much finishing 3-6 (3-5), but his defense was solid and there's no denying his 3s came in big spots. Especially the one at the 4:22 mark of the 3rd quarter after the Sixers had taken a 64-62 lead.
The bench guards had a rough Game 5, but man did they respond in Game 6.
- In the biggest game of his career, we probably got Joe's best coaching performance of the season. The lineup adjustments, the rotations, the timeout usage, it was all pretty close to perfect. Only going 7 deep was a bit concerning, but the Celts have 2 days to recover so it's probably whatever. There was clearly no fucking around from Joe, and if he's going to be killed for every decision that may not have worked out, he should be praised for pushing the exact right buttons in the biggest game of the year.
The players executing is why the Celtics won. But Joe's approach and game management was pretty damn flawless. Did it feel like the Sixers P&R was killing this team last night? I don't think so. That's adjustments baby.
- Everything about this moment
The Bad
- At some point, I'm going to need Al to get back to hitting his open looks. Unfortunately at the moment, he's nowhere close on his jumper. Over his last 3 games he's shooting just 4-21 (2-16) which is a brutal 19/12%. I'm not saying I need Horford to be Steph Curry, but I can't have 19/12%. I'll take 30/30% at this point. I like that he's still taking shots with confidence and not letting the misses get in his head, but at some point, I need better execution. If the Celts are going to win Game 7, they need the Al Horford safety valve 3s.
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- Everything about the 3rd quarter was gross. Offensively, the Celts threw up 21 points on 36/14% with 5 TOs. Defensively, they allowed 30 points on 52/42% splits. They were crushed in fastbreak points 11-3, their double digit lead was blown all because they were careless and couldn't get stops, it was just all gross. As long as they can avoid quarters like that on Sunday, things should b OK. I can handle the Sixers scoring, what I can't handle is them scoring because you're being careless with the basketball.
- Not enough attacking Maxey offensively for my liking. The Celts need to find ways to attack him with their best players to tire his ass out. He's the type of guy that can swing a game if you don't make him work on the defensive end. I'm not saying they need to ruin their offensive flow just to attack that matchup, but it needs to happen more often in Game 7. Either score, or tire him out. It didn't feel like they made the Sixers pay enough for having him on the floor until Tatum at the end.
- Watching Jaylen slip on that wet spot, I thought that was it. Almost always when you see a fall like that when a guy tries to make a euro move, it's a disaster. The same shit happened with Gallo. The fact that he walked away unscathed was maybe the prayer of all prayers. My heart dropped into my ball sack when that play happened. I thought that ACL or something was toast. Boy was I happy to be wrong.
The Ugly
- We talked about Tatum's shooting, I won't sit here and tell you 5-21 (4-11) isn't gross as hell, but he came through so whatever.
What was even more gross and unacceptable was the fact that this team went on the road, with their season on the line, and turned the ball over 17 times. You should not win games in which that happens. Tatum, Brown, and Brogdon all had 4 TOs. Smart had 3. Those turnovers turned into 18 Sixers points which made this game way closer than it should have been. Some really braindead turnovers like the Brogdon travel after jumping over halfcourt and the Tatum turnover after he tried to take a transition 3PA. Really poor decision making that just can't happen.
We all know what happened last year in the playoffs when the Celtics were this careless with the basketball. It usually means death. They may have survived last night, but that is the exception and not the rule. In Game 7, everything will come down to ball security. You cannot have empty wasted possessions against the Sixers, you have to at least get a shot up.
With their backs up against the wall, this team responded. That's nothing new. What comes next is the bigger question. Can they build off their success. Winning Game 6 is great, but it means literally nothing if you don't back it up with a Game 7 win. Take care of business and move on to whoever wins NYK/MIA. Tatum said it after the game, Sunday is about avenging what happened in Game 5. Lock in, and the Celts will win this series.
Love and trust.