I Still Cannot Believe The Celtics Somehow Managed To Pull Off One Of The Craziest Playoff Wins In NBA History To Keep Their Season Alive

Issac Baldizon. Getty Images.

I'm still not even sure how to explain what happened last night. I'm in this weird blend of shock, relief, excitement, disbelief, all of it. We should have woken up this morning with the Boston Celtics season being over. A shot at redemption and an 18th banner wasted. 

And yet here they stand, alive. Heading back home (gulp) with an opportunity to return to the NBA Finals. All I can do is sit here and shake my head. It makes no sense, yet all the sense in the world when you think about who the 2023 Boston Celtics are. If there's one thing and one thing only that we can all universally agree on when it comes to this team, it's that they refuse to do anything the easy way. If the Celts are presented an option of an easy path to victory or an excruciatingly difficult path, we know which one they are choosing.

I'm sorry, but there may not be a more difficult path than what we saw last night. We got their worst 3PT shooting performance of the season. Not the playoffs. Not this series. The entire fucking season. In fact, the Heat doubled them up from deep, and had a +21 point advantage. The Heat had 17 OREB and 7 fewer turnovers. The Celtics missed their final 11 shots of the 4th quarter after building a 10 point lead with 4:10 left. They shot 35/20% in the 2nd half and only scored 104 points. We've only seen the Celts win 4 games ALL YEAR when they score 104 or less. They allowed 31 points in the final quarter, the one quarter they needed to show up defensively in. They missed a potential game winning three that was only taken because the first two options were covered and there was almost a 5 seconds call on the inbounds. And finally…

They converted with 0.2 left on the clock, after getting a beyond perfect roll off the rim, a perfect catch and release that was completed by impeccable placement. Celtics win. Game 7 it is.

Let's just call this what it was. The Celtics game we watched was one we saw them lose essentially every time that shit happened. In Game 6, we were gifted a prayer from God. I don't know what God you want to suggest it came from, but that was a prayer. While there is something to the idea that you make your own luck, which is true in the case of Derrick White's situational awareness and focus, for how bad the Celts played for this to still somehow end up in a win to keep their season alive has to be the very definition of getting a prayer. And that's OK! You need prayers along the way to a title. Every championship team gets lucky at some point during their run. 

Not only that, but I almost feel like we were owed this buzzer beater. Lord knows we've been through hell with those things. Even during the regular season, we had some brutal putback luck on ones that just rimmed out or were 0.5 seconds too late. I'll tell ya

Advertisement

As incredible as last night was, we have to remain focused. Winning 3 is not winning 4. Do not allow your brain to do what you are going to hear A LOT over the next two days and that is assume the Celtics have won Game 7 and are back in the Finals. Nope. Rebuked. Do not do it. This series is not over, not by a long shot. If the Celts play like they did in Game 6, they will lose Game 7 and this entire run was for nothing. The Heat thought it was over once they hit 3 wins, the Celtics cannot do the same now that they themselves have hit 3 wins. 

In the meantime, we're going to talk about Game 6. I don't know what the hell is going on here, but something is up. Let's dive in.

The Good

- How could we possibly start anywhere else. The entire reason this blog has the tone and subject matter it does, it because of one person. 

Thank you Derrick. From all of us

Before we even get into his night, everyone needs to also relive every possible angle of that game winner

Am I being too dramatic to suggest this is now one of the biggest shots in Celtics franchise history? Not just the actual play, but the context surrounding it? I feel like it has to be up there.

So let's talk about Derrick's night, because while he was the hero at the end, his impact was felt much earlier in this game, on both ends of the floor. Defensively, after having issues for much of this series Derrick White finally had his night against Jimmy Butler. You want to know why Butler only went 5-21 from the field? Because he went 0-8 vs White. In total, this was as lock down All NBA Defense as you're going to see in a playoff game. Everyone has gotten the word to not bite on Butler's pump fakes and it has really given him fits. The way White was also able to protect the rim in transition as a guard? Ridiculous.

Advertisement

But don't sleep on White's huge buckets in the 4th either. After the Heat got out to a 5-0 run to start the 4th, it was White's 3PM that pushed things back to 6 and bought the Celts a little more time. Then at the 5:26 mark with the Heat cutting it to a two possession game, White stepped up and made another 3PM to go back up 7. Massive, massive shots. Those were the only 3PM the Celts made in the final quarter, everyone else went 0-7. Without those plays on both ends of the floor from White during the entire quarter, the Celtics season is over. 

With Malcolm Brogdon cooked, it's going to require White to be more aggressive. They are going to need his offense now more than ever, and when you look at the last three wins you see a pretty noticeable difference

The Celts need to continue to move the ball, trust one another, and encourage Derrick to be selfish when needed. Especially while he's on this heater. As long as he continues to mix up his paint touches with 3PA, I'm comfortable with him taking whatever shot he wants. 53/55% splits this series? My lord.

- After the Game 4 win there were signs that Jaylen Brown was snapping out of his horrific start to this series. Then in Game 5 he went for 21 points on 50/60% shooting and my brain started to really think things. If this was going to happen, it would require Jaylen to be the All NBA player we saw during the year. It felt like he was due for a big Game 6.

How about 26/10/3 on 9-16 (0-4) shooting 

As he so often does, it was Jaylen Brown who carried this team early. He led the Celts with 10 points on 5-6 shooting while also snagging 5 rebounds and dishing out 2 assists while not turning it over. For a guy that has been as bad as he has at times in this series, this was about the best possible start any of us could ask for. Jaylen was engaged early and attacked the rim, then came the midrange jullups, then came the deep 2s that still hit nothing but net, it was clear that Jaylen was locked in from the opening tip. In a game where you needed your stars to show up, this was great to see.

Advertisement

Now his 10 minutes in the 2nd quarter were nowhere close to as good. 3 TOs, 0-2 shooting, a couple fouls, to me it was a crossroads to Jaylen's night. He could mentally let that ruin his night, or he could bounce back and continue to fight.

In the 3rd quarter, despite picking up an early 4th foul, Jaylen returned down the stretch to finish with 8 points on 3-5 shooting. That was huge because only he and Smart (8 points on 3-5) could make a shot that entire quarter. In the 4th quarter, Jaylen showed up with another 7 points, 5 of which came from the line. Yes, there was that one brutal miss which you absolutely cannot have. But 5-6 in those pressure spots was good enough I guess.

There's a reason Jaylen was a team best +7 last night. When this team needed their guy, he showed up. I mean the dude had a playoff career high 5 OREB in this game, every single one being bigger than the one before it. Jaylen's extra effort last night was a huge reason they won this game.

- This is also true of their franchise player. I'm not sure people truly understand and appreciate what Jayson Tatum is doing on the basketball court to start his career

Advertisement

Look at these names. They are legends of the sport, and here is Jayson Tatum doing this shit at the age of 25. With the season on the line 31/12/5 while going 15-15 from the FT line. His eruption in the 2nd quarter for 16 points is what turned this game in the Celts favor. The way he continues to move the ball is what plays such a huge role in breaking the Heat's defense. The way he played aggressively to start is how the Celts got their initial separation. To win a game in which Tatum goes 0-8 from deep is insane. That shouldn't happen.

Then there was also this

Let's face it, Tatum got bailed out a little bit by Derrick. He went just 1-9 with 3 TOs in the 2nd half, including 1-6 in the 4th quarter. Listen Tatum isn't alone with this, White bailed out a lot of people, I'm just saying we need a much more even 48 minutes from Tatum in Game 7. He was terrific overall, but we're going to need a higher level on Monday, that's just how it goes.

Advertisement

Things have changed for the Celts defense once they shifted Tatum onto Butler basically full time now. He's been Butler's most frequent matchup these last 3 games and the results speak for themselves. Tatum's length really bothers him, especially if he's going to stay down and not bite on fakes. 

With a chance at redemption on the table Monday night, this is where Tatum needs to now close the door. He has his chance to make up for what happened in 2022, I trust he understands that.

- Everything about this video

- With the Celts season on life support, it required everyone to step their shit up and rise to the occasion. Few players on the roster have done that better than Marcus Smart

Game 5: 23/3/2 with 5 steals on 7-12 (4-6) shooting

Game 6: 21/4/1 on 7-15 (4-11) shooting

That's another win this postseason when Marcus Smart takes at least 10 FGA, which brings the current record to 10-2 this postseason. It's not always pretty, there are times when you're going to see some insanely stupid basketball, but overall? Smart has been fantastic with the Celts season on the line. He's shooting 51/47% with 4.0 3PM over these last two games putting up over 20 a night. Just like with Derrick, Smart's offense is going to be so important the rest of the way now that Brogdon is out. Not just in terms of the total production, but the efficiency as well.

Advertisement

We're seeing him play much better defense overall, even though I thought there were some pretty poor late game miscommunications down the stretch involving Smart, whether it was helping off Duncan Robinson or playing Jimmy Butler into help that was never there, for the most part, Smart has shown up on that end. 

I would just ask that moving forward, please stop jumping to pass along the perimeter. That's Day 1 stuff really. 

- Bam had his block on Tatum in the 2020 ECF. Last night Al had his block against Bam

Maybe not the best all around game from Al, but in that moment? When the Celts needed stops? What a way to show up big. 

- It should surprise no one that the Celts once again didn't give up a shit ton of points and once again they seemed to win the game. This game just shows that even on a night where you literally cannot put the ball in the basket, you can give yourself a chance as long as you lock in and defend on the other end. An elite defense helps cover up a lot of offensive holes, and the reason the Celts are back in this series is because they are holding the MIA offense to around 100 or less. If you defend, you live.

Don't get me wrong, the perimeter defense was dogshit. Way too many possessions where the Celts seemed to lose guys like Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin behind the arc. That's maybe the most brain-dead thing you can do in this series, yet it happened time and time again. What was dominant was the interior defense. 

Some of that is probably due to luck, but that's what length and intimidation can do. Players start to rush and they miss bunnies. The Celts do not win unless they took away the paint. That's been true in all 3 of their wins.

- I have no idea how Duncan Robinson missed these 3PA

Advertisement

It was at these moments that my soul left my body. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped at the one with 24 seconds left. The inability to convert on the other end, the transition break, those are the dagger 3s I've seen teams hit against the Celtics my entire fucking life. As soon as I saw Bam pass the ball my heart sank. I still have no idea how it didn't go in. It's the same voodoo we saw with Jimmy Butler last year in Game 7. This is what I mean by prayers, you need them sometimes.

- Another stellar game by Joe. Perfect timeout usage, some big buckets out of timeouts, good rotations, and without his challenge at the end, the officials wouldn't have put more time on the clock, which directly resulted in the win. The refs were always going to look at if it was a 2 or a 3 from Butler, but without the challenge, they were not going to look at the clock. That challenge basically saved the entire season.

Call me crazy, but that does not seem like a team who has quit on their coach or who hates each other. Then again, what do I know?

The Bad

- OK, where to start. I suppose the whole 43/20% shooting thing would be a good spot. At least in the 1st half we saw this team be able to convert their 2pt FGA (51%), but that second half? Woof. Just 35/20% with 6 TOs. I don't know if both sides started getting tight or what, but man this team could simply not buy a bucket no matter where they took it from

The Celts missed 6 shots at the rim in the 4th quarter alone. Seemingly all their 3PA were rimming out in the most excruciating way possible. You add the misses with some dumb as shit TOs like jumping while passing, carrying the basketball etc and the offense was so bad the final 24 minutes. That cannot happen on Monday.

Advertisement

- I mean 7-35 from deep as a team. 20%. How do you win a game with that? It makes no sense.

- Whatever the defensive gameplan was to limit the Heat shooters, try something else. There is absolutely no excuse for the way the Celts kept losing the Heat shooters. At least make them hit contested 3PA. Caleb Martin didn't take a contested shot all night it felt like. The Celts did a great job at limiting the Heat's two best players, but everyone else? Terrible. Martin, Vincent, Robinson, they all went off and were why the Heat were able to stay in this game. Those 3 guys alone went 10-20 from deep, all of which were pretty wide open looks. 

- 12 TOs may not seem like a big number, but it was when they were happening which was the issue. I also do not believe all turnovers are created equal. There are ones you can stomach and then others that make you want to pull your hair out because they are so insanely stupid. Last night we got the stupid ones, and they came from pretty much everybody.

- Then there was the final Heat possession.

To think that the Celtics season could have ended on this play makes me sick. For starters, that looks like a pretty clear double dribble to me. Pretty sure you can't do that. In terms of the actual foul, that's pretty iffy too given the situation. Butler basically lost the ball, threw himself around and hoped for the bailout….which he got. My guess is the officials saw they missed the double dribble and possibly no foul and had to figure out some way to make up for it, and that's where the time back on the clock comes in. 

I mean that play should have been blown dead the second Jimmy touched it with two hands. It's almost as if the Basketball Gods corrected this or something. 

- The rebounding continues to be very frustrating. It's not like the Heat have size, they just have Bam. Box him the fuck out already, what's the issue here? He and Butler combined for 14 OREB. 14!! I don't care if the Celts only have one big on the floor, that is way too many OREBs, and what usually happened? A killer Heat 3PM. If the Celts want to win Game 7, they need clean defensive possessions. 

The Ugly

- Up 10 points with 4:10 to go. This is it. You're doing it. All you have to do is just not shit your pants and your season is alive. So what do the Celtics do? 

They shit their pants.

Because why take the easy way right? Who does that? 

The Celtics missed 11 straight shots before Derrick White's game winner. Look at how painful this is

Advertisement

That's the last 4 minutes of this game. With each missed bunnie or each layup that rolled out, we all had that same sinking feeling in our stomachs. That shit usually comes with a loss, we've seen it time and time again.

Not to mention the Heat were being given fouls basically every trip down so they were able to stop the clock and add points, it was all unraveling before our eyes. I am convinced something happened to the clock where it moved slower than normal. That was the longest 4:10 I've ever experienced.

To then miss 2 FTs in that run as a twist of the knife, I mean it doesn't get more painful than that. That's what makes this win so hard to process because the Celts collapsed in the same exact way that has always resulted in a loss, especially to this very same MIA team!

But it's over. They won despite their horrific close. Now just never do it again.

So here we go. NBA history and a spot in the NBA Finals is on the line Monday night. I cannot believe that is even a real sentence I was able to type, but here we are. This is why we Love and Trust. Buckle up.