The Way The Celtics Pulled Game 1 Out Of Their Ass Was Both Incredible And Infuriating All At The Same Time

Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.

When you're on the journey to win an NBA title, you tend to need things to break your way. You need health, you need to play well, and maybe most importantly, you need some luck. That can look different for every team in their respective run, but it's hard to find a previous champion who didn't get all three of those things while on their way to the title.

Last night, the Celtics got their version of luck. If one of the many plays down the stretch of Game 1 goes the other way, the Celtics lose Game 1 and we find ourselves living in a VERY different world. Make no mistake, the Celtics pulled this win out of their ass. I'd say 9 times out of 10 what we saw last night results in a loss, but that's the beauty of the NBA playoffs. That's the beauty of this team and this run. This time, the luck worked in their favor.

Now there's something to be said about the Celts creating their own luck, which is what also happened. They had to put themselves in the position for that luck to take place, and as they say at the end of the day luck is what happens when preparations meets opportunity. Sure they needed things to break their way, but they also had to execute in those moments. Given the entire world says the Celtics needed to show they were able to execute in high pressure situations, Game 1 was exactly that. 

When it came time to make a play, the Celts made that play.

The interesting thing is they also mostly played like shit. Being gifted the rare situation of a wake up call type performance that also comes in a win almost never happens. At least not for this team. We're used to soul crushing ECF home losses at this time of year, so to get the opposite was a bit of a shock to the system. I think Jaylen Brown said it best

Advertisement

This is the perfect mindset to have. You take the win and 1-0 series lead, but you operate as if you lost. I think anyone who watched that performance in Game 1 will agree with Jaylen that overall, it's not good enough if the goal is to reach the top of the mountain. 

What we're going to find out is if this was a moment for the Celtics like we've seen from other previous champions. Those are the types of teams that find a way to win playoff games even when they aren't at their best. Doing whatever you have to do to pull out a win you had no business getting is something every great title team does. 

That was the question about this team right? Could they win even when things don't go their way? Would their best players show up in the biggest moments?

Last night, the answer was yes to both. It was glorious, and also hell to live through all at the same time. Basically, it was your typical night watching Celtics basketball.

Let's talk about it.

The Good

- For the third time this postseason, we are beginning with Jrue Holiday. You may have put one of the Jays in this coveted spot, but for me, the most important player in this win was Jrue Holiday. If there was ever a time for him to legitimately have his best game ever as a Boston Celtic, boy am I glad he chose this one

You don't have to take my word for it, just let Jaylen tell you

Offensively, we witnessed the most points he's ever scored as a Celtic on 10-16 (4-8) shooting

Advertisement

with what I would deem a nearly flawless offensive approach. Everything was in control, nothing was rushed, everything he took was for the most part a high quality look, and with a shot chart like this

it's hard to have any complaints about Jrue's performance on this end of the floor. For as poor as Holiday was shooting the ball to start these playoffs, what we've seen from him over these last 4 games has been better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Over that stretch (4-0), Holiday is averaging 18.8/6.3/5.5 on 60/50% splits with 3.0 3PM a game. For a guy who has lived below 50% TS% in each of the last 4 playoff runs he's had, that's a pretty big jump. Of all the players who have had to take their offense up a level with KP out, Jrue has responded the most in my opinion. 

Then you factor in everything Holiday gave you defensively, and it's why he's the top spot in this blog. He guarded Haliburton on 26 possessions in Game 1, holding him to 0 total points on 0-3 shooting with 2 TOs, none bigger than what happened in the final moments. If you were to look up "clamp" in the dictionary, you would see that sideline possession. I'm not kidding, see for yourself

Games and moments like this are why Brad traded for Holiday, so to see him deliver the way he did was incredible. Joe mentioned his poise after the game, and that was as important as anything else Holiday did. He never panicked, he never really allowed anyone else to panic, and he took it upon himself to execute in those moments. That's what champions do, and his experience showed up big time last night.

- Am I being a prisoner of the moment if I suggest that Jaylen Brown's game tying three was the biggest shot of his entire Celtics career? That might feel a little hyperbolic, but given the situation and what's at stake right now, I feel like it was. 

Advertisement

Much like Jrue, the beauty of Jaylen's Game 1 performance is much more than just that one shot or what he did on the offensive end. I think we'll all take a balanced night like what Jaylen put up, but let's not forget it was Jaylen's defense that played just as big a role in this win. His block on the sideline, his steal on Siakam in the final seconds, this was about as complete a two way performance as you're ever going to see from Jaylen. Defensively he completely removed Aaron Nesmith from the game, holding him scoreless on 28 possessions, and when that type of effort is coming from one of your best players, it's contagious.

We know that at the end of the day, things will always come down how the Jays play. As the best players, things start and stop with them. What we're seeing from Jaylen this postseason (23.4 points on 54.8/35% splits) is a reminder maybe stupid internet trolls who are still making left hand jokes who suggest Jaylen's contract is awful and that he needs to be traded have no idea what they're talking about. Thankfully, Brad is the one making decisions for this team.

The fact that Jaylen became just the 7th player ever to get a Mike Breen double bang also rules. Better yet, the fact that it has the world's biggest Celtics hater crying about it makes it even sweeter

A game tying 3 in the final seconds of the ECF is the exact moment you pull out a double bang. Half of them have come in regular season games, which is what makes Nick Wright's crying even more delicious. The media is just upset Jaylen prevented them from doing nothing but slandering the Celtics today, and that makes me very, very happy.

Outside of the on the court stuff, I continue to be impressed with the leaps Jaylen is making as a leader. His mentality this entire season and postseason has been great, and I love that he's as pissed off as anyone about this Game 1 performance. I think that mostly has to do with the fact that Jaylen knows what it takes at this level and this time of year, and he knows last night wasn't good enough. Earlier in his carer, I feel like his mindset is different after making a shot like that. But after years of playoff scars, he's not taking the bait. That feels HUGE moving forward. 

- And then there's probably the most underappreciated superstar in the league, Jayson Tatum. Nobody has their name played around with more than him, and boy did he deliver when the team absolutely needed it

Advertisement

People want Tatum to produce like a superstar right? Well, how's this look?

I don't think anyone would suggest this was a perfect Tatum performance, but life isn't perfect. What matters was did he show up when the team needed him most? The answer is unequivocally yes, and it showed up on BOTH ends of the floor. This is what often times gets lost in the Tatum discourse. Nobody seems to want to mention that he's about as elite a defender at his position as you're going to find. Just like Jrue and Jaylen, Tatum's defense played a GIGANTIC role in this win. The truth is, he's a complete two way player. Tatum has finished with 10+ rebounds in 9 of the 11 Celts playoff games (9-0), and what I think separates him from others is he has a memory of a goldfish. He can struggle shooting for a quarter or a half and then flip a switch when the Celts need it most.

Advertisement

This performance sort of reminded me of his Game 6 on the road vs PHI. Remember when he couldn't buy a shot to save his life and was like 4-16? Then what happened in the final 4 minutes? He went nuclear. That was Tatum's 4th quarter/OT for me. He went just 2-7 in the 4th, had one of the worst TOs you'll ever possibly see, but once we got to that OT he took over and was dominant. Big shot after big shot, big defensive stops, big rebounds, he delivered like a superstar is supposed to do.

Granted he'll be slandered today because that's what happens with Tatum. The world declares Ant Edwards MJ after a 6-24 Game 7 performance and drags Tatum for a 32/12/4 on 46% performance, but that's not surprising. We should be used to that by now, even if it's extremely embarrassing. 

- As we know, it's hard to beat this team when the starting backcourt is as productive as we saw in Game 1. You combine Jrue's dominant two way performance with the dominant two way performance of Derrick White

and this was a big time night for the Stock Exchange. 

The important number to remember with White is 12 FGA. The Celtics are 7-0 this postseason (28-6 during the year) when White takes at least 12 shots. Last night he finished with 13. Him being aggressive isn't only important because it brings the best out of him as a scorer, but it also helps create for others. When White is a threat to shoot, defenses have to close hard, when that happens and he's able to get into the paint, we see the drive and kick game work to perfection. 

- How important is ball movement to the Boston Celtics? During the regular season, the Celts were 23-2 when finishing with at least 30 assists. They are 2-0 so far in the playoffs when that happens, so a decent 25-2 record in 2024 when they hit that number after notching 30 last night.

Advertisement

The impressive part of this for me was we all know that the Pacers are going to have their issues defensively, but instead of settling for isolation and matchup hunting, the Celtics killed them mostly through moving the ball. I'll take 30 AST on 47 FGM every day of the week and twice on Sundays, and 4 of the 5 starters all finished with at least 4 AST. When the Celts move the ball and force this defense to rotate, the Pacers are cooked.

When you're facing a poor defense, the best thing you can do is let everyone stand around and not have to guard. By falling into bad isolation habits or over-relying on that, you're letting the defense off the hook. 

The Bad

- Game 1 was a nice reminder for this team that they are not playing the injured offenses of the Heat and Cavs. There is nothing flukey about the Pacers offense or shooting, and we saw the problems it can create if you start wasting possessions. Even though it felt like Haliburton made some prayer 3s, the Pacers putting up 128 is not an outlier. This is who they are.

On the surface, it felt like the Celts defense was dogshit. 128 points on 53% shooting? Allowing 56/50% splits in the first half? Long stretches where it felt like the Celts couldn't get a stop to save their life? None of it was good enough.

But maybe it's all a matter of perspective?

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I wouldn't call the Celtics defense "good" last night by their own standard, but also "good" defense might look difference against a Pacers team with this type of offensive firepower than the offenses we've seen in previous rounds. 

Where I feel like the Pacers points per possession were much higher than 1.143 was in P&R. I talked about it before the series and honestly it was just as poor in Game 1 as it has been all postseason. The Celtics are getting burned in drop, and they might just have to bite the bullet and live with switching. I know Horford was targeted late and guys made jumper after jumper, but on the whole Al's isolation defense has been more than passable

Advertisement

Guys haven't really had the success when they try and attack Al at the rim, and I think you have to trust the data and continue to force the Pacers to make tough contested jumpers. If they go in, credit to them. Maybe get up a step closer to Siakam when he catches the ball in the midrange, but my hope is the Celts spend all of practice today figuring out their P&R defense. Once you get to this stage of the playoffs, teams are going to keep exploiting your weaknesses until you prove you can stop it. 

- When I say the Celtics got lucky in this game, that's mostly because I would say if you find yourself in a game in which you blow 3 separate double digit leads, including a 13 point lead late in the 3rd quarter, you almost never win that game.

The early leads are one thing, teams are going to go on runs. But the 14-2 run over the final 2:47 of the 3rd quarter when the Celts were on the bench? That was inexcusable. The non-Tatum minutes in this game were a bit of a disaster, and it's not hard to see which lineups struggled the most

When your main 3 bench players are all mostly unplayable, it's extremely lucky to still win a playoff game. It's no surprise that the two worst lineups last night were the non-Tatum lineups, and that's something that has to be figured out. This team cannot play Al Horford 40 minutes every game, so Joe has decisions to make. If Tillman is back, maybe it's him. Maybe it's Brissett time for the energy. Maybe it's Tatum at the 5, but that's a problem if Hauser and Pritchard are going to be unplayable.

The real solution isn't a different rotation, it's these guys simply playing better. Laying an egg like this at home is concerning, and it didn't seem like Kornet had any idea what to do defensively when it came to Myles Turner. Maybe you play Kornet, but make sure it's not also during Turner minutes? He's going to eat that matchup alive it feels like.

All I know is moving forward, the Celts bench cannot be a gigantic negative like it was in Game 1. It's not fair to Al, and his legs are the most important factor the Celts have to protect.

- Speaking of Al, 3-12 from deep on all mostly wide open looks and still winning is part of that luck. I thought Al looked great early, but the heavy minutes combined with the pace of the game clearly took its toll. That's why KP returning is so important, and why the bench not being a total negative is important. The Celtics offense NEEDS that stretch big safety valve from deep, especially when defenses continue to collapse on drives. 

Games are now every other day, so there's no more built in rest for Al. That has to be monitored moving forward.

- 6 missed FTs in the 3rd quarter is unacceptable. While the Celts responded and made big FTs late, shit like that cannot happen. Leaving that many points on the board in a close game in the ECF is asking for a brutal home loss, especially against an offense that was scoring pretty much every time down the floor. The margins matter this time of year, and for long stretches I didn't feel like the Celts were winning those which is what allowed the Pacers to hang around and prevented the Celts from having larger separation.

Advertisement

The Ugly

- There's no other way to say it, these two TOs by Tatum and Brown were arguably some of the most disgusting late game mistakes you will ever witness

I mean holy hell. These are the type of late game mental mistakes that have ended the Celtics season in previous playoff runs. Given the situation, these are the two players who are going to have the ball in the biggest moments, and that means their decision making needs to be flawless. Would anyone call that flawless? Hell no. I would call it disastrous. The fact that it didn't come back to bite them is arguably the luckiest part of last night. Being this careless with the basketball in the games biggest moment is losing basketball. 

Look, a win is a win is a win. At this point in the playoffs, you never apologize for winning, even if it was a gigantic prayer. You take it, watch the film to see where you can improve, and you move on. We all know the Celts are going to have to play better in Game 2 and beyond if they want to win the series, and I imagine they will.

3 wins away from the Finals and 7 away from the title. Celts now need to go just 7-6 the rest of the way to win the whole thing, but now is not the time to take your foot off the gas. Now let's see this team win a Game 2 for once and truly put the pressure on the Pacers.