The Celtics appeared doomed from the beginning. On the opening play of Game 7, Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle, which left him unstable for the remainder of the evening.
After losing 103-84 to conclude the season, the four-time All-Star said, “It was just frustrating that I was kind of like a shell of myself.”
He had a reason, at least, for scoring 14 points on just 13 shots. Apart from him and Derrick White, none of the other players on the team met the moment.
Despite the fact that all of White’s points came in the third quarter, he finished the game with a knee injury with 7:51 remaining. White scored 18 points, 13 of which came in the second half, the second-most in the last 24 minutes.
With eight of Boston’s fifteen turnovers, Jaylen Brown finished with nineteen points. It’s his greatest career total of giveaways.
It also became harder to create a comeback as the hosts shot 39 percent from the field, including 9/42 (21.4%) from beyond the arc, and the shots were not dropping.
Now, let’s take a closer look at another loss that exposed the Celtics’ weaknesses. Boston came within one victory of becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit because they abandoned their greatest defensive strategy.
1. From the very first play of the evening, Game 7 was a complete disaster for the hosts. After rolling his ankle, Jayson Tatum lay down for some time. It was obviously his bad wheel and something he would have to try to get past. It still bothered him.
In a first quarter in which they were ice cold, finishing with 15 points while missing all ten of their three-pointers, the Celtics’ shooting was another problem. It dropped their series shooting percentage from beyond the arc to below 31 percent after the first 12 minutes.
The hosts created numerous close misses by Jaylen Brown, who led Boston with eight points in the opening quarter, among other excellent opportunities that fell short.
2. However, instead of stretching out Miami’s zone defence, the ball ended up in the corner much too frequently, requiring someone to make a play.
The Celtics must help their effort to establish a rhythm in a Game 7 that has begun slowly and physically by taking advantage of the defense’s holes in the Heat, refusing to back down on a fast break, and making three-pointers from beyond the arc like Marcus Smart did.
Spreading them out and hitting the weak spots around the foul line and hashes becomes even more important as the visitors add more switching to their defensive system.
3. Boston’s offensive rhythmlessness and defensive errors left them down by 17 points. Sean Grande, the radio play-by-play commentator for the Celtics, reports that the team is 0-11 this season when behind by that much.
4. The hosts reduced Miami’s lead and trailed 52–41 at the half. They gained seven points in the second quarter by forcing the visitors into four turnovers, which aided their case.
Boston was able to establish some sort of rhythm by creating opportunities to ramp up the pace. They made 52.4 percent of their field goals in the second quarter, including 4/11 (36.4 percent) of their three-pointers.
But the Heat dominated the first twenty-four minutes. The former’s quirks in zone defence will require the Celtics to adapt. Not only does Miami rely on a rubber band that can break when stretched too far, but the most susceptible parts remain unchanged.
5. Boston could also take more steps to encourage Jayson Tatum to play. The two-time All-NBA First Team player scored six points in the second session, four of which came from transition
And he made the most of it when his team got him the ball down low against Duncan Robinson, bringing down the outmatched defender before coming up for a close-range bucket.
The Celtics can do more to assist their superstar have a bigger second half effect, in addition to getting him the ball in the middle of the zone.
Tatum had seven points (3/7 shooting) in the half. To his credit, he contributed three assists and eight rebounds. At halftime, the former had the lead over all participants; after 24 minutes, the latter was a team-best.
6. Derrick White breathed life into the hosts and at last gave the TD Garden crowd a reason to cheer. With 8:29 remaining in the third quarter, the hero of Game 6 orchestrated an 8-0 run that included a three-pointer from the right wing and the completion of a classic three-point play to get Boston within eight, 59-51.
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