What a ridiculous game…
Before I begin, apologies for the long hiatus. I have been racing deadlines in my day job and wasn’t planning to write again until the end of the month. I didn’t write on the end of the Celtics-Cavaliers series, or the other series, which was fine. Those results were mostly reasonable and I didn’t feel the urgent need to say anything. However, this game… Wow. It’s the talk of the sports world today, and most of what needs to be said has been said ad nauseum, but I need to get stuff off my chest about seeing an entire team coming back from the dead.
All my fears about the Celtics had come true against the Cavaliers. Their loss of focus cost them Game 2 and almost cost them every other game besides the first. Max Strus, a former Celtic, was almost as dangerous as Donovan Mitchell for much of the series. And now, the same weaknesses plagued the Celtics against an Indiana team that wasn’t missing major stars in their lineup.
Much has been made of how inexplicably bad they have been at home, relative to expectations. Though it is truly perplexing, I have the beginnings of a theory. Watching several games now, the main culprit is Jayson Tatum, whose ill-advised and half-hearted shots, errant passes, and constant hands-in-the-air pleading for fouls have become old and predictable features of his home game repertoire. What could be different (and detrimental) about playing at home versus away? Family. In Tatum’s case, that would mean his young son, Deuce, who is inseparable from his dad. And I understand. Whether it is a kid who keeps barging into the parents’ bedroom claiming he can’t fall asleep, or an illness, or spousal conflict, family can have an adverse effect on job performance. I have had the presence of young (and not so young) children interfere with my professional life on a regular basis. Conjecture, of course, but the only thing I could think of. So yes, I went there. Would it be possible for JT to stay at a hotel the night before an important home game? I am so mean.
Glaring statistical evidence of lackadaisical play: 6 missed free throws (2 by Tatum, 3 by Jaylen Brown), versus only 1 for Indiana. Any one of them would have been the difference in regulation. Although Boston had 30 free throws against the Pacers’ 10.
For a change, Boston is missing a key piece of its own, Kristaps Porzingis, and it is a problem. The play of 37-year-old Al Horford (who was being called “old man” by 62-year-old announcer Mike Breen) has been superb, but he needs his rest, and in his absence (and even when he’s on the floor), the Celtics big men were being microwave cooked by Indiana center Myles Turner, who suddenly turned into Dirk Nowitski for stretches of the game. Neither Horford nor Luke Kornet could keep up with him outside, and he was too quick inside for Kornet to keep off the glass. My suggestion is to try using Xavier Tillman to defend Turner when Big Al needs a breather. Tillman is a good defender and is at least faster than Kornet.
After the Max Strus experience, the next former Celtic to torture his old team is Aaron Nesmith, who played incredible defense on Tatum and Brown and hit some clutch shots of his own. Drafted by Boston #14 in the 2020 draft, Nesmith was raw and struggled to find a role in then-coach Brad Stevens’ lineup. I didn’t like the pick at the time (thought he should have been a second-rounder, plus Tyrese Maxey, Desmond Bane, and Jaden McDaniels were all available), and his departure a few years later seemed to affirm my opinion. But he has found a place in Indiana, and I am happy for him. If Boston gets past Indiana, it may face Dallas who employ old friends Maxi Kleber and - gulp - Kyrie Irving. Next year, it will be someone like Marcus Smart or Robert Williams III.
Jaylen Brown, aside the 3 missed free throws, played a flawless game. He defended maniacally, scored and rebounded, and of course hit the most consequential shot in at least the last 16 years of Celtics playoff history. I have been down on him since he was drafted - if you remember, I wanted Domantas Sabonis instead. But he is having a good playoffs so far, and is playing better than Tatum overall. His last two plays of regulation - forcing the turnover on the Haliburton inbounds pass to Siakam, then hitting the game-tying three in Siakam’s face - were a two-part equivalent of Larry Bird’s legendary steal of Isiah Thomas’ inbounds pass and quick pass to a cutting Dennis Johnson (RIP) for the last-second winning layup in Game 5 of the 1987 Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons. Jaylen Brown’s status as a star player has been resurrected this playoffs, and so has the Celtics’ playoff mojo.