The Boston Celtics can be frustrating
The Boston Celtics finished with the best record in the NBA this year at 64-18. However, their loss last night to the Miami Heat Wednesday night should serve as a wake-up call to Boston and the rest of the NBA that, when the playoffs arrive, the regular season is a non-factor. The most frustrating thing about that loss last night is that they looked like the same group from last year resorting to old habits.
While it’s not a crisis just yet, we must credit Miami for their sharpshooting prowess, especially considering they made over half of their three-point attempts. Not many times you win those kinds of games. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra displayed why he is one of the best coaches in the game. This Heat team in the last few seasons is a prime example of the talent evolution in the NBA from top to bottom.
This season, the Celtics lived and died by the three, and last night, they experienced their own medicine. Many will say that it took a historic shooting performance by this Miami Heat team to beat this Boston team by just 10. While this is true, Miami is known for such performances. Not closing out well on Heat shooters did not help. Allowing them to get into a rhythm and steal Game 2. Miami was playing as one with the Celtics would go back to hero iso ball when they were still down eight with four minutes to go then give up another three on the other end; Game 1 compared to Game 2 intensity wise was night and day.
This kind of half-baked effort in playoff games is not new for Boston. What’s new are the expectations put on the Celtics due to the talent on the roster. A team this good will have displays of basketball that can be so frustrating at times it can be hard to watch: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are missing free throws, not looking to push the pace and playing outside of themselves. These Celtics can respond like they have done before. Overreacting to one game is foolish but ignoring some of the things we saw on Wednesday is even dumber.
My hope for this postseason run for the Celtics is elimination with efficiency, putting teams down quickly. We all would have fools to assume Miami will not put up a fight. Just how we would be fooling ourselves to assume that the Celtics will continue to play like a shell of themselves. Saturday will be very interesting indeed. What we saw last night was not true Celtics basketball. Complacent is a word that these Celtics should be far away from.
The job is not remotely finished.
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