Season on the Brink as Celtics Fall Flat Yet Again
June 13, 2022
The Boston Celtics showed up fully rested and ready to go for their pivotal game five of the NBA Finals in the Chase Center on Monday night. They came in 7-0 in these playoffs following a loss, and looking to respond to a game four collapse in Boston. Spirits were high, as fans have witnessed this team play their best basketball in the wake of their worst, especially in the biggest moments. But on this night, in the biggest game of the season, and the biggest game of many of these Celtics’ careers, the team put forth a mostly lackluster performance. They came out flat, struggling mightily on offense and digging themselves a 24-8 hole not even 10 minutes into the contest. The Celtics would settle into the game eventually, especially defensively - where they played very well - but spotting a team like the Warriors a 16 point lead in the blink of the eye on the road is a near death sentence. Boston looked like an inspired team after half, putting together an amazing start to the third quarter and even taking the lead briefly. But sustaining that level proved to be too great of a challenge as the Warriors would retake the lead at the tail end of the third and then completely dominate the fourth quarter to defeat the Celtics 104-94 and take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.
Boston certainly started very slowly, but the Warriors defense deserves much of the credit for that. Much of the talk going into the series was about the Celtics incredible defense, but Golden State has matched them so far through five games. The Warriors smothered the Celtics from the jump. Draymond Green mostly shut down Jaylen Brown after a couple of early buckets. Golden State clearly made it a point of emphasis to force Brown to his left and this led to many wild forced shots and bad turnovers. Brown was never able to get it going for the Celtics, turning in one of the worst playoff performances of his career, ending up with 18 points on 5/18 shooting, including 0/5 from three and five costly turnovers. He went just 1/4 in the fourth quarter for 5 points. With Jayson Tatum clearly not 100%, the Celtics really needed Brown to step it up - as he has for most of this series - but he wasn’t able to get the job done in game five. As the Celtics were stumbling out of the gate, Tatum was nowhere to be found. He didn’t attempt his first field goal until just over two minutes left in the first quarter, after leaving the game for a brief rest. He returned with Boston trailing by 14 and immediately tried to get going, getting inside for three buckets in a row to end the quarter. Tatum stayed aggressive and did everything he could to positively affect the game, contributing 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists on 10/20 shooting, but turned the ball over four times and scored just five points in the decisive fourth quarter on 1/5 shooting which included a brutal pair of missed free throws with the game hanging in the balance. There are no excuses at this point for the team’s two stars, but it may have been wise to get them more rest. Each played 44 minutes and didn’t come out for the entire second half until garbage time in the final moments. Tired legs appeared to pop up in crunch time as Tatum was short on every shot down the stretch, including multiple airballs and Brown looked like he was struggling to even maintain possession of the ball at times. Exhaustion clearly became a factor, even for two of the best conditioned players in the league.
Beyond the two stars, the Celtics offensive struggles looked very similar to their struggles we’ve witnessed all season; starting with the turnovers. Turnovers have been their bugaboo all season and especially all playoffs long. When they turn it over 16 times or more, they very rarely win. In game five Boston had 18 turnovers and that led to 22 Warriors points off turnovers. To contrast that, Golden State turned the ball over just 6 times all game - only 2 live ball turnovers - which led to just 9 points for the Celtics. In a series that has seen two incredible half court defenses playing at a high level, giving a team 12 extra possessions and easy opportunities to score in transition is a killer. Too frequently, the Celtics are trying too hard to make a perfect pass instead of a good pass, or they are driving without any real purpose or plan. There were multiple occasions where a Celtic would drive and leave their feet only to lose the ball or fling it wildly to nobody. This is a losing recipe against such an active and disciplined team defense. The Warriors are having their fair share of problems against the Celtics defense as well, but they are doing a superb job of taking care of the ball and making sure at worst their possessions are ending with a miss and no opportunity for Boston to get out in transition.
After the ball security issues, one has to look at the Celtics shooting woes. The Celtics missed their first 11 three point attempts and didn’t make one until 4:30 left in the second quarter; a staggering stat for a team that has relied on long distance shooting all playoffs long. The Celtics actually ripped off 8 straight makes from distance after the abysmal start, but that hot streak dried up quickly and they would make only two more until garbage time, finishing 11/34 from deep for the game; not a terrible percentage, but the shooting let them down big time. Tatum (5/9), Al Horford (2/3), and Marcus Smart (3/6) combined to shoot 10/18 from deep, which helped keep Boston in the game, but the rest of the team combined to go 1/14 and that lone make was by Luke Kornet deep in the bowels of garbage time. The Celtics bench was a major issue in general in this one as they combined for 4 non-garbage time points. Payton Pritchard missed three solid looks in the first half and didn’t return to the game. Grant Williams had a nice block which led to a layup plus the foul, but that was basically his only meaningful contribution over his 16 minutes. Derrick White remained solid on defense but he looked like a deer in the headlights whenever he touched the ball, finishing with just one point and missing three wide open shots from deep. The lack of bench production was a huge reason why the Jays (and Smart to an extent) had to carry such a massive offensive burden and clearly wore down by the end of the game. Boston needs their role players to show up big time at home if they want any chance to send this series back to Golden State for a game 7. Beyond the three point shooting issues, the Celtics couldn’t even knock down their free throws. They managed to get to the line 16 more times than the Warriors, but missed 10 of their 31 attempts including just 2/6 at the stripe for Tatum. Those should be free points that the Celtics are just carelessly giving away.
As bad as the Celtics looked in the first and fourth quarters, they somehow put everything together and played some of their best basketball of the season in the third quarter, temporarily turning what had been a 16 point deficit into a 5 point lead. They looked like a completely different team immediately coming out of the locker room. The already strong defense was ratcheted up to a ridiculously aggressive and physical level, while the offense was driving and kicking into open shots, driving and actually getting to the rim, and making smart extra passes for easy looks. They attacked mismatches and made the Warriors change their lineups around. But in the closing minutes of the quarter the Celtics let Klay Thompson get free for a couple of easy (for him) threes, followed by a good look for a Jordan Poole three. Then on the final possession of the quarter Poole was able to throw up and make yet another (near) halfcourt heave at the buzzer. The shot gave Golden State a one point lead, flipped the momentum, and got the quiet Golden State crowd back into the game. As it turned out, that was the beginning of the end as the Celtics would never recapture any semblance of offensive prowess, consistently forcing attacks at the Warriors best defenders, settling for bad contested shots off the dribble, and turning the ball over left and right. After a 35 point outburst in the third, Boston tallied just 14 measly points before the starters were pulled with just over a minute remaining. The Celtics got hit by a few bad calls in the early moments and became clearly frustrated with the officiating, eventually costing them multiple points (YET AGAIN) and the team never fully recovered. It was a completely unacceptable showing, and one that may ultimately cost them a championship. One of the lone bright spots in this one was the play of Robert Williams. The Timelord looked good while on the floor and was clearly making a huge difference on both ends with his gravity in the paint providing a noticeable advantage for Boston, while he also did a great job of getting out and contesting the Golden State shooters on the perimeter. The Celtics were +11 in the 30 minutes Rob played, so it’s safe to say the drop-off when he’s off the floor in this series has become pretty extreme.
Another frustrating element of this devastating loss was the fact that the Celtics were finally able to stymy Stephen Curry, holding him to just 16 points on 7/22 shooting and 0/9 from three. It was the first time in his entire playoff career that he has failed to make at least one three pointer in a game. And yet the slight added focus and attention paid to Curry allowed just enough opportunities and motivation for the other Warriors players to step up and carry the load. Andrew Wiggins followed up one of the best games of his career in game four with an even better and more impactful one in game five. Wiggins was phenomenal on both ends, going for a team high 26 points and 13 rebounds on 12/23 shooting - despite an 0/6 from three. He shot lights out from the midrange and was able to work his way into the lane, showing an impressive finishing display ranging from soft floaters off the glass to a thunderous tomahawk slam to essentially seal the victory. On the other end he was just as strong, consistently locking down the Jays, especially Tatum, fighting through screens or scrambling back to the Celtics stars and forcing them into low percentage shots, while of course making a huge impact on the glass. Plain and simple, Wiggins was the best player on the floor in game five. But it was a total team effort by Golden State. Thompson warmed up for 21 points and 5/11 from three while also impressing on the defensive end, holding up well against Jaylen and even Tatum at times. Jordan Poole added a key 14 points off the bench in 17 minutes including three big triples, while managing to hide for the most part on the defensive end. And an unsung hero, Gary Patyon II played a phenomenal 26 minutes off the bench, providing his typically stellar defense while also hitting 6/8 shots for 15 points. He was consistently able to find holes in the Boston defense by staying active off the ball and freeing himself for timely baskets. Still at the end of the day make no mistake about it, this is all created by the presence of Steph Curry on the court. He is the engine that makes this go and even on an off shooting night his impact was through the roof.
So now for the fourth time in this incredible playoff run, the Celtics will face elimination on Thursday night in TD Garden. They’ll have to rally from a 3-2 deficit to win the championship, just as they did against the Milwaukee Bucks two rounds ago. They must win game six in Boston, then go back to San Francisco to win a do-or-die game seven in the Chase Center. That is now the only way. The Celtics say they play their best when their backs are against the wall and now this will be the ultimate test. The focus needs to be there for 48 minutes in game six and they cannot afford any more lapses like we’ve seen throughout these finals. Don’t let game six be the final game of the NBA season. Anything less than this team’s best effort and energy would be a massive disappointment. But despite the recent signs of concern, the Celtics have earned the benefit of the doubt. If anyone has the resiliency to go through this battle and come out alive it is this team. Let’s see what they are made of.
Ben Handler