Tatum Beats Buzzer, Celtics Steal Game 1
April 17, 2022
It’s rare for a game to get all the hype and attention for days, and then actually live up to it, but that is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon in TD Garden. The Celtics first round series against the Nets has taken over the entire NBA landscape, billed as a matchup of the East’s best in round one, and at least for one game, it did not disappoint. The Nets came into the Garden on Easter Sunday, intent on making a statement and stealing home court advantage but the Celtics had other ideas. In a back and forth affair that saw comebacks, blown leads, and more, the Boston Celtics prevailed at the final buzzer to take a 1-0 series lead, 115-114.
The atmosphere in the Garden felt worthy of an NBA Finals game on Sunday, as clearly the anticipation had reached a boiling point. Both teams looked a little tight at first, trying to feel each other out and looking a little sloppy. The first half was filled with turnovers and fouls, and played with an almost frantic pace on both ends. Neither team could establish much momentum and the Celtics would keep stretching out a lead to 5 or 7, only to see the Nets quickly strike back and pull even again. The whistles really didn’t allow either team to get into any kind of rhythm, as there were a preposterous 18 fouls called in the first quarter and 30 by halftime. After 24 minutes, things were right where we started, knotted at 61 going into halftime. There was much to talk about and take away from the first half for both teams.
The Celtics came out of the locker room as the more aggressive team, finally starting to limit fouls, get out in transition and made some shots. They quickly opened up a double digit lead that stretched as high as 15 before the Nets started to fight back. Jayson Tatum hit one of his signature sidestep threes that put the Celtics up by 11 heading into the fourth. But Kyrie Irving was able to get going and the Nets took control in the fourth. Marcus Smart went to the bench with four fouls and Irivng took over the game, making tough shot after tough shot, bringing the Nets all the way back, and stretching out a 107-102 lead with about 4 minutes left on a big three pointer that had the Celtics defenders yelling at each other and pointing fingers.
The game had totally flipped and it felt like another devastating fourth quarter collapse by the Celtics as the offense had stagnated completely, and the Nets were starting to hit shots. But Boston called a timeout and got back under control. Jaylen Brown buried a huge three to get the deficit back to 2 and the Celtics were able to stay within a possession or two until the final minute. Al Horford tied the game at 111 with just over a minute left and then all hell broke loose. Irving tried to dribble into a mismatch, but Smart simply wouldn’t allow it. Running out of time, Kyrie stepped into a three right in Smart’s face - the only basket he would score against Smart all day - and put the Nets up 114-111 with about 45 seconds to play, leading to a Celtics timeout. Out of the timeout, they decided to go two-for-one and Jaylen Brown wasted no time in attacking Bruce Brown and getting right to the rim for an easy layup to cut the Nets lead to 1 with just over 35 seconds to play.
What followed was perhaps the best defensive possession of the season for the Celtics. Durant brought the ball across half court and flung it to Irving, who tried to create separation from Smart, to no avail. Horford came over to close off any lanes and Irving was forced to dribble from one side of the court to the other without ever gaining a shred of space to get off a shot. Irving was forced to kick the ball out to Durant with the shot clock waning. Tatum smothered KD, as he did for much of the game, forcing a deep contested three that hit back iron.
The final 13 seconds felt like an eternity. Horford grabbed the rebound off the Durant miss and quickly found Derrick White for an outlet. White tossed it ahead quickly to Brown who was racing up the right wing. Udoka had one timeout remaining, but said after the game that he wanted to let the team play it out and that he would only use the timeout if he felt they were in trouble, or had squandered the advantage. Brown attacked along the right baseline, drawing several defenders before kicking out to Marcus on the left wing with about 3 seconds left. Smart pump faked the three, which drew two defenders into the air. He then dribbled between them and fired the ball to a cutting Tatum, who caught the pass, spun away from a flat-footed Irving in the paint, and laid the ball off the glass as the buzzer sounded to give the Celtics a dramatic 115-114 game 1 victory. The sequence perfectly encapsulated this Celtics team, as they played 24 seconds of elite defense, before all five players touched the ball and made a smart, snap decision in the final 13 seconds, ultimately leading to an easy basket for about as beautiful an ending to a basketball game as you’ll ever see.
It was an incredible playoff win for the Celtics and it left the whole city of Boston elated, but this game was also a stark reminder of how good the Nets are and how difficult of a series this will be. Tatum was every bit the two-way superstar he needs to be in this series. He was very patient in the early going, letting the game come to him and refusing to force shots. He embraced extra defenders and read the game beautifully, leading to 7 first half assists. Tatum found his scoring groove late in the second quarter and carried it into the second half, as he finished with an efficient 31 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists. Perhaps just as importantly, Tatum was incredible as a defender, forcing 6 total turnovers, and guarding Kevin Durant about as well as any human can. He made KD work the entire game, holding him to only 23 points and 3 assists on 9/24 shooting. In a series littered with star power, Tatum was the best player on the court for his 44 minutes of action. Marcus Smart also brought his A-game, absolutely hounding Irving (and others) on defense, while adding 20 points (including several timely three balls), 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Al Horford turned back the clock, looking like the early 2010s all-star version of himself. Horford’s defense was incredible, switching onto every player on the court and more than holding his own against the likes of Irving and Durant, while dominating the paint to the tune of 20 points and 15 boards in 41 minutes. It was truly a signature Big Al performance on both ends of the floor. If he can keep up this level of play and defensive activity all series that will be a massive boon for the Celtics. Jaylen Brown got off to a slow start and appeared to be pressing a bit at times, but he settled into the game and was huge down the stretch. He ended up with 23 points and 5 rebounds on 9/19 shooting to go along with 4 huge steals, as he was a big part of turning up the defensive intensity.
For all their successes, the Celtics also need to clean up some areas of the game. For as great as Daniel Theis has been filling in for Robert Williams recently, he leaves a lot to be desired in this matchup. It took a while but the Nets were able to identify Theis as a pressure point, and began targeting him with action, especially Goran Dragic, who punished the Celtics all day. I’m not sure how much Boston will be able to play Theis going forward, even more so if the Nets decide to vanquish their own center, Andre Drummond to the bench (they probably should). The Celtics also didn’t get much offensively from their bench. Grant Williams was wonderful defensively, bullying Durant and giving him a hard time, but he missed all 4 of his three point attempts on mostly open looks; he has to make defenses pay for leaving him open to trap Tatum and Brown, and in this game he didn’t. Derrick White also played well defensively and his rim pressure on offense is crucial, but he had two costly turnovers and appeared hesitant to shoot all game, even passing up a wide open layup at one point. White had seemed to find his jump shot late in the season, and he and the Celtics are going to need that confidence. The only other Celtic who saw the court was Payton Pritchard. Pritch played just 8 minutes and made his only shot, but the defense crumbled when White and Pritchard were in the game, which is what originally allowed Irving to get going. Until that point, Irving had been largely held in check, but he was able to beat the smaller defenders to shake free for a few jumpers that got him going and led to Kyrie going nuclear, finishing with 39 points on 12/20 shooting, and almost stealing a win for the Nets. I think Ime needs to strongly consider matching Smart’s minutes with Irving’s going forward.
The other major issue for the Celtics was their half court offense, particularly in the fourth quarter. Boston opened up a 15 point lead in the second half and let it all slip away before finally clinching the victory at the last second. But as they are prone to do, the Celtics stagnated and fell into all of their bad habits in the biggest moments. They gagged away a game they should have won, and if not for the last second heroics we would be feeling a lot differently about this game. I talked ad nauseum before this series about how the most important thing for the Celtics was to keep playing their game regardless of the situation. And at the first sign of trouble, they completely lost the plot, stopped playing with pace, stopped moving the ball, and started settling for long jump shots with no second chances. Luckily the Celtics were able to right the ship in the final few minutes, but this is absolutely something they must clean up or it will bite them in the ass in these playoffs.
The Celtics did a good job on the Nets role players for the most part, but they let Goran Dragic come in and make a major impact out of nowhere off the bench. The Nets will likely go small with Dragic a lot more and Boston needs to shut that down. They also need to do a better job attacking and punishing the Nets smaller defenders. They let Dragic, Irving, and Seth Curry off the hook far too often; those guys should be targeted mercilessly by the bigger, stronger Celtics players. They should be able to abuse those guys and basically play them off the court, but they largely let them off the hook.
The other major subplot from this game was Kyrie Irving vs. the Boston crowd. I don’t have too much to add to the mostly toxic discourse around this situation, but I will say this: sports villains and sports hate are good and make sports more fun. There is nothing wrong with a little extra hostility and vitriol. I’m totally fine with the crowd relentlessly heckling Irving (as long as they don’t cross any lines obviously) and I’m also totally fine with Irving giving it right back to the crowd! If he wants to give fans the middle finger and tell them to s*** his d*** I actually think that is a great thing for the NBA and this series. The world needs more villains and rivalries in sports. I think all is fair in the playoffs, and if anything, it adds a little juice to a series that is already bursting with drama. Having said that, Irving needs to embrace the hostility if he’s going to keep playing into it. For him to make comments suggesting that Boston needs to “let it go” and that there is no hostility on his end is just incredibly disingenuous and makes him look oblivious. He can’t act the way he does and then basically pretend that none of it happened like we don’t have video cameras. It’s ok, Kyrie, just lean all the way into this and go full heel. It will be better for everyone involved.
That was a LOT to digest from only one game, but that’s why we get two full days to soak it all in before game 2 on Wednesday night in Boston. There will surely be many tweaks and adjustments on both sides, and there are more than enough talking points to hold everyone over for the extra day off. Game 1 was a draining experience, and had a real finals game 7 vibe to it. It’s crazy to think that was just game 1 of a first round series, and the thought that we may get 6 more games like that is incredible - and also may put me in an early grave. In a series that feels like a heavyweight championship fight, it was great to see the Celtics land the first haymaker and take round one. For now, that’s all that matters.
Ben Handler