"There Might Be A Fight Break Out Or Something. It’s Starting To Feel Like It's Not Even Basketball" - The Celtics Fumbled Their Opportunity To Bury The Magic And Instead Give Them New Life

Fernando Medina. Getty Images.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I find myself to still be extremely annoyed. Sweeps in the NBA are hard, it's what makes them so unique. I think most people when talking about this series predicted the Celts to win in 5, and as we know in order to win in 5 you have to drop a game at some point. 

Here's the thing about that though. Even if you always believed the Celts would win in 5, losing a game like last night is annoying as fuck. Both can be true, I think. For me, it's the way the Celts lost this game that annoys me more than the result. In a position to effectively end the series, the Celts went for their kill shot. We talk so much about how important it is that the Celts do everything they can to put themselves in a position to have as short a series as possible, and last night was an opportunity to do just that. In that sense, they failed. Instead, they added a game to the series. 

It may not end up being a fatal missed opportunity, but it is a missed opportunity. The Celts signed up for one more game against a team that seems determined to injure every player on the roster, and it just opens up the possibility for something to go wrong. Another 48 minutes of that worry all because you played like fucking dickheads in Game 3. Those are the playoff losses the Celtics need to do their best to avoid. If they go out and get their ass whooped, so be it. But holding a team to 95 points? That has to be a win. Period. What makes this all so annoying is that before last night, it pretty much guaranteed one

Here's the good news. It took ALL of that shit that we saw in Game 3 for the Magic to win by just 2 points. At the end of the day, the main goal of this trip is a split, which is still on the table. You also have to remember that this team's calling card is playing .800 basketball. For the last 3 years, when they are at their best, we tend to see them win 4 out of 5. Take the 2 wins vs CHA to end the season and the 2 wins to start this series, and last night was your classic 1 bad game in 5 stinker. 

At least that's the spinzone I've been working on since the final buzzer. It took the Celts having one of their worst performances in years to only lose by 2 while following their 3 year long trend of winning 4 out of every 5. That's both comforting and annoying as fuck all at the same time. Welcome to the NBA Playoffs!

Part of me really hates blowing the opportunity to effectively end the series. You hate giving a team life as opposed to breaking their spirit. It now puts much more pressure on Game 4, which is also annoying. The other part of me understands that sweeps are hard and not exactly normal, and you can never just assume games are wins. You have to go out and execute well enough to earn the win. The Celtics didn't do that in Game 3, and they paid the price for it.

Let's begin

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The Good

- If there's one thing that I've been really leaning into as I try and avoid what happened last night is what a relief it was to see Jayson Tatum back on the floor. And not only just his return, but how he played. 

Tatum finished 10-22 (4-10) and 12-12 from the FT line, so any potential concerns I had about his wrist and how it might impact his shot were at least put to bed for one game. Right away, it was clear that the wrist wasn't going to be an issue, and if this is the version of Tatum we can expect as he navigates the injury, that does make me exhale a little bit. Game 3 required Tatum to be the guy and produce, and he answered the bell in an efficient manner. He led the team in rebounds and was second in assists. He was also extremely careless with the basketball (more on this later), but overall I felt like Tatum did his job on both ends of the floor in this loss. 

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Given we've never had to deal with Tatum ever missing a playoff game, it was reasonable to think the worst in terms of how hurt he really was. So to see him come back after missing just one game and look that good was a relief. The annoying part again is you've now extended the series which puts Tatum at further risk of someone going after the wrist, but at least he looks mostly fine. Clean up the TOs, and this version of Tatum is more than good enough.

- I'd also say the same thing about how Jaylen looked despite his injuries. He finished with 19 points on 7-14 (1-2) while going 4-5 from the FT in his 33 minutes, and for the most part, I thought he was moving pretty well. Just like Tatum, Jaylen had his own turnover issues which proved to be rather costly, and we now have to deal with another injury (dislocated finger) after what happened with Cole Anthony

From an injury and production standpoint, the version of Jaylen we've had this postseason is exactly what I think we all were hoping for (outside of the TOs in Game 3). A tidy 23 a game on 54/54/88% splits, he's been able to navigate his knee injury well as far as I can tell, even if there are moments he may look to be dealing with the pain. He's finding a way to be impactful and efficient offensively, and long term, that's what matters. I'm a little worried about what this dislocated finger is going to mean in terms of those two things, but he seems to be fine.

If the Jays give you 55 points on 17-36 (5-12), that's a game you need to win. They did their part.

- There's more I could get to like DWhite's moments or Al Horford generally being a great human and coming up big time and time again, but I'm still too annoyed. Let's get to the real meat of this blog.

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The Bad

- Alright, where to begin. When I think of what bothers me most about this loss, I can't help but start anywhere other than the 3 Pillars Of Playoff Pain. You see, the Celtics have been losing playoff games in the same fashion since 2020. You go through every single one of their playoff losses, and these 3 things will be present in about 95% of them. 

1. High TOs/high points allowed off TOs

2. Poor defensive rebounding

3. Poor outside shooting

When it comes to the Celtics and playoff basketball, these are the only things that matter. If they handle these areas, they never lose. If they struggle in all 3, they never win. You can go back through the years and check for yourself.

So what did we see last night?

1. 19 TOs/26 points allowed off TOs

2. 15 OREB allowed for 16 2nd chance points

3. 9-27 3P (33.3%) while losing the 3PA battle

The Celtics were absolute dogshit in every single one of those problem areas. It's really as simple as that. You cannot be that poor in those areas, it's non-negotiable. To me, this was no different than any of the MIA losses, another team with a spotty offense who you let off the hook through TOs and easy transition baskets. The Celts lost the fastbreak battle 18-11, and why do we think that is? Turnovers. It allows a bad halfcourt offense not to have to worry about beating your defense in the halfcourt.

Every part of the game where the Celts started to get careless with the basketball, it immediately allowed the Magic in the game. The spurts where they took care of it, they built a double digit lead. This is not an accident. So to see 19 TOs/26 points allowed in a game you lost by 2, I mean give me a fucking break.

When you finally do get the Magic into halfcourt offense and then you still can't finish the defensive possession cleanly, eventually those body blows add up. The lack of defensive rebounding down the stretch of this game was horrendous, including a late 4th quarter possession where I'm pretty sure the Magic for 3-4 chances on a single trip before eventually scoring. That's just losing basketball. 

42 of the Magic's 95 points came off self inflicted wounds. Think about that for a second.

Then you end with the poor outside shooting. How does 2-13 (15%) in the second half sound? I have everything about it. The percentage is horrendous, but only 13 3PA? Gross. The Celtics allowed the Magic to take more 3PA in this loss. They did not embrace Mazzulla Ball and it cost them. Not only was the shooting brutal, the Celts only had 2 OREB in the entire second half/ See what a difference rebounding can make? 

- Getting a total of 3 points on 1-3 (0-1) from both Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser is beyond inexcusable. I'd say while Game 1&2 were instances where Pritchard put the worries about his struggles in this matchup to bed, Game 3 was what those fears and concerns look like. He was a non-factor, didn't even take a single 3PA, turned it over 3 times with some of the worst TOs you're ever going to see

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With no Jrue in the lineup, this was not a game where the Celts could afford to get a complete noshow from Payton Pritchard. His role is too important. It's not even like he was able to really make an impact without scoring either, given he finished with 0 AST and 3 TOs and was a -6 in his minutes. 

When it comes to Sam Hauser, I'm not sure we've ever seen him be so unplayable before. He hasn't made a single shot this entire series, his defense and rebounding has been nonexistent, and he too contributed to some of the most bizarre turnovers you're ever going to see

Given that Pritchard showed up in Game 1&2, he somewhat gets a pass. Chalk it up to a stinker and move on. But Hauser? He needs to find a way to be a positive player, because right now he's nowhere close. At some point, you have to make an open jumper, and you have to find ways to get open in order to TAKE said jumper. He can't just be out there for cardio and bad defense. Getting absolutely zero production from the bench was a major factor in this loss, given they lost the 2nd unit battle 18-9.

- One thing that I would have hoped both Tatum and Brown would have learned by now after so many battles with the MIA playoff defense is that the single worst thing you can do is become over-reliant on isolation basketball. The longer you hold onto the ball and allow the defense to sit back and load up, the easier you are making it for them. The more you do it, the higher the probability becomes that the possession ends in a turnover or a low percentage contested long 2. Both of those things, bring death.

So what did we see time and time again? A whole lot of holding onto the ball, a whole lot of dribbling, and a whole lot of low percentage contested 2s

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These are just tough contested 2s that you should generally try and stay away from in high leverage situations against an elite defense. This isn't to say Tatum shouldn't attack in isolation against this team, it's more of a point that you cannot fall into the habit of this being the only thing you do down the stretch. You need to move the ball.

The same is true with several of Jaylen's possessions as well. His issues weren't so much around long 2s like Tatum, but more into turnovers/offensive fouls etc. Just as bad, but in a different way. 

Together, the Jays combined for 13 of the 19 TOs, with almost all of them being live ball TOs. Throwing the ball away on multiple occasions, bad entry passes, losing the ball while dribbling, it was about as awful as you can be and it came via the two best players who have the ball the most. That simply cannot happen. 

To avoid help avoid it, move the ball. Move your bodies. The entire offensive approach last night felt like the Celts were playing right into the Magic's hands. Every possession felt slow, there was no general movement from anybody, and then the next thing you knew there were 6-7 seconds on the shot clock and you're forced to take a low percentage look. So many of their second half possessions ended like this

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Look at the shot clock and what DWhite is forced into, all because they generally did nothing for the entire offensive possession in the prior 16 seconds. No wonder they couldn't score for an entire quarter playing this way. I see this as both a failure in coaching and a failure in player execution. The annoying part is they have the answers to this particular test, and they just decided to do the exact thing that instead gets them into trouble and loses them games like this. 

- I wish I didn't have to show this next part, but it's why the Celts lost this game

Up 10 entering the break, all you had to do was come out and punch first in the 3rd quarter. The game and the series was there for the taking. So what did we get? The worst quarter in 4 years. 11 fucking points. When you remember Tatum made a 3 in the first 30 seconds of the quarter, it's 8 points over the final 11 minutes. How on earth is that even possible? More TOs than FGM, zero defense, the type of quarter that you absolutely cannot have in a playoff game.

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It's not as if things got all that much better in the 4th as you can see by the overall second half numbers. Easily the worst overall performance of the Joe Mazzulla Era, and they picked a pretty shitty time to have it if you ask me. The entire point of this roster is that it is constructed to avoid these lulls. It's why Brad made the trades he did. So for it to still happen and now cost you another playoff game, that's infuriating. 11 points? 11 POINTS??!?!?!

- Of all the bullshit with the refs at the end of the game, the only thing I really care about is how they handled that 8 second fuck up. The 0.3 second thing is obviously insane, but it's still 0.7 seconds at best and would still require a prayer.

But the fuck up with the 8 second call was actually impactful and legitimately changed the course of the game. The Celts had Paolo in a trap, the Magic were scrambling. Who knows what could happen in that spot. Maybe they turn it over, maybe they take an earlier shot that has a cleaner rebound etc. 

Stopping the play for something that was clearly not an 8 second violation allowed the Magic to regroup, calm down, and make sure they ate up as much of the clock as possible. That shot resulted in the long rebound, which led to the 0.3 vs 0.7 fuck up. 

Essentially, the refs mistake directly impacted how the game unfolded. That's fucked. It was NOT why the Celts lost this game by any means, but it's also something that CANNOT happen in NBA playoff games.

The Ugly

- Which brings us to a pretty big factor in the Celts inability to stop that disaster quarter from unfolding, and that was the play of Porzingis. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest it was one of his worst overall performances as a Celtic. Not only was he poor offensively, he was also a disaster defensively, especially down the stretch. He seemed to really struggle with the physicality, played passively, and wasn't able to really impact the game in the ways we know he can.

For the series, it's been a complete disaster. 

You look at his production, and it's nowhere close to anything that could be considered even remotely acceptable

10.7 PPG 7.3 RPG 1.0 APG 28.1 FG% 0 3FG% 66.7 FT% 38.8 TS%

KP has played what I would say is 7 healthy playoff games as a Celtic. He's been pretty shitty in about 4 of them. Switching physical defenses is why Brad traded for him. That was the solve. Getting KP a switch and him abusing it is how this all works, especially during the offensive lulls. Last night? That dominance was nowhere to be found. He couldn't beat a switch all game

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He's yet to make a 3PM all series, so it's not even like he's able to stretch the defense with his spacing. His screens have been awful, allowing the Magic to basically go right through him and stay attached to the ball handler. He can't make a FTA to save his life. 

KP is too important to be a no-show like this, especially when the Jays are banged up. This is what his role requires, and he has not come close to living up to it. Game 1 of the NBA Finals made him a legend forever, but it's 2025. It's time to earn your keep, and we are yet to see that from KP in this series. He owned it afterwards which is fine, but I care about what happens on the floor. This is not a random game you threw away in mid-January. This is the playoffs. When all the team needed to win this game was for you to not be horrendous, and you still couldn't reach that level, it's a problem. Even a below-average KP game is enough to win. Sigh.

A -16 in his 34 minutes in a game you lost by 2 is tough to stomach, and it wasn't just the poor shooting. Only 6 rebounds? A couple of TOs? Missed FTs? Just a disaster in every sense in a game that could have buried the opponent. Brutal.

So now we enter Game 4. The Magic with a new level of confidence and momentum, and the Celts with their second pressure test of the series. They did not pass the first one, and will now have to rely on their resiliency to regain a firm control of the series. Going back to Boston 2-2 is an entirely different world than 3-1 with a chance to close it out on your home floor, which is again, what makes last night so frustrating. The Celts made their bed, and now they have to deal with it.