After falling behind 3-0, none of the Celtics had a reason for their showing, which leads to plenty of questions about changes to come.
After getting outworked at home by the Miami Heat and falling in a 2-0 hole, the Celtics entered Sunday night as, theoretically, the desperate team. The reigning Eastern Conference champions faced a must-win situation, given the NBA has never seen a team come back from 3-0 down to win a series, and promptly came out and laid an egg.
Game 3 was the Celtics worst performance of the playoffs. It was a failure at every level, but seeing both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown no-show a game of that magnitude was particularly noteworthy. The two combined to go 12-of-35 from the field (1-of-14 from three-point range) for 26 points in the biggest game of the season, before being pulled after three quarters with Miami up 30. Their inability to meet the moment stood in stark contrast to the Heat team on the other side, which seemingly only gets better as the lights get brighter.
There is a disconnect in Boston right now that no one can figure out. First year head coach Joe Mazzulla took responsibility after Game 3 for not having the team ready to play, saying it’s on him to put together the right plan and get them all on the same page. That this team, with a core that’s been to four conference finals in five years, needs to be properly motivated by the coach to get up for a Game 3 down 2-0 is a problem in and of itself. That Mazzulla couldn’t do it shows the cracks in the foundation that Brad Stevens and company have been trying desperately to paper over.
Jaylen Brown called Game 3 “embarrassing” and said it’s a collective issue, not wanting to point fingers — which is what I would also not want to do when many of the fingers would be pointing at me. He seemed as baffled as anyone how the team (including himself) played as poorly as they did. He and Jayson Tatum both said the team has to come out and play with “some pride” in the next game, which is, again, not a great thing to have to strive for down 3-0 in the conference finals against a team you were, on paper, much better than.
“We can point fingers, but in reality, it’s just embarrassing.”
Jaylen Brown reacts to the Game 3 loss pic.twitter.com/S9jemYhn5I
Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 22, 2023
It was clear after Game 3 that Boston is out of explanations and excuses. It’s one thing to lose to a team with three championships like the Warriors, or to be the young team on the rise that takes its lumps against a LeBron-led Cavs team that won the East every year. Those are the kinds of losses that can be viewed as lessons to learn from. Losing in this fashion to an 8-seeded Heat team operating at a theoretical (albeit, not in practice) talent deficit, is not one of those. That’s the kind of thing that leads to significant changes in an organization.
It has to be noted that what Miami has done this postseason, particularly against the Bucks and Celtics, has been nothing short of astounding. Their shot-making has been at a level no one could’ve predicted coming in, knocking down 46 percent of their threes in eight games across those two series (falling back to earth in between against the Knicks).
