Celts Burned! ECF Game 1 Loss 5/17 (MIA 1-0)

[Fierce1]

The Heat just outworked the Cs in the 3rd qtr.

Celts only had enough gas for 2 quarters.

No big deal because the Celts are clearly the better team.

But if the Celts don't work as hard as Miami then this will be a short series in favor of Miami.

I don't have a problem with Butler shooting 18 fts, My problem is that he didn't have to get up off the court to shoot any of them. If you are going to foul, FOUL.

True.

Celts need to be more nasty against this aggressive Heat team.

[Fierce1]

I would not be as disappointed if the Celts lost to the Bucks.

But if this series ends and it's not the Celts in the Finals, it would be so disappointing.

[Fantaxp7]

Two starters out
Two days rest
Two of some of the worst officials in the league
Tuesday....

[31to6]

Soup is ruin.

But series? No. Is possible okay. Next one.

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

Celtics down 64-70 in the third.

Tatum stripped near top of key on drive. TO. Heat score in transition.
Tatum bad pass to Brown picked off. TO. Heat score in transition.
Tatum bad pass to Williams broken up. TO. Heat score in transition.

3 Tatum turnovers in 33 seconds. Go from down 6 to down 12. Unreal.

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=ZyMYqP8cADYLFKtGcq6LTw

Worst for me was when Ime called a TO and the next two possessions were lousy TOs leading to transition points for Miami.

I forget when exactly that was, but it was just brutal.

That Twitter clip is 100% where I was worried about the game. Up until that point, I figured the Celtics could make a comeback, but after those back-to-back turnovers happen, I knew this team was in trouble.

[philing00]

We are definitely better than the Heat. Only way to lose is to screw up like we did in the 3rd. Stop trying to isoing to drive into the teeth of the defense. Need the ball moving first and get the defense into rotation.
Looked so easy for us in the first half. If we showed Jimmy some respect and concentrate on trying to lock him down like we did to Durant, he would be lucky to score 12 pts.
Hope Robs knee is ok. We do miss Horford more than Smart.

[ddb]

Not surprised one bit that Miami won. Even in the first half when it seemed like Boston was rolling, the Heat somehow kept it pretty close and within striking distance. Being down Al & Marcus is just too much to overcome for Boston on the road against a pretty deep Heat squad. Ime's rotation is only 8-9 guys to begin with...
Now Boston is facing perhaps another game without Al....I'm guessing Smart will be back. Smart will help. He can go after Jimmy and make his life more difficult out there.
I'm betting heavy on the Celtics tomorrow night. The 19th is my birthday, Smart is likely back....Ime called out Tatum & Brown in the media (which I love)....Let's GO!

[165bows]

Celtics down 64-70 in the third.

Tatum stripped near top of key on drive. TO. Heat score in transition.
Tatum bad pass to Brown picked off. TO. Heat score in transition.
Tatum bad pass to Williams broken up. TO. Heat score in transition.

3 Tatum turnovers in 33 seconds. Go from down 6 to down 12. Unreal.

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=ZyMYqP8cADYLFKtGcq6LTw

Worst for me was when Ime called a TO and the next two possessions were lousy TOs leading to transition points for Miami.

I forget when exactly that was, but it was just brutal.

That Twitter clip is 100% where I was worried about the game. Up until that point, I figured the Celtics could make a comeback, but after those back-to-back turnovers happen, I knew this team was in trouble.

Can't remember who I had that conversation with, but the Js still need a quality point guard with them. They aren't LeBron who just needs a guy who can stand around and shoot threes and guard point guards. Great players but this team needs a really good PG to get people in their spots. Hopefully Smart's back soon.

[shackles10]

I had one of those posts where it keeps getting longer and longer picking apart almost every player just to be fair to all, and then realized how awful it was and how much it looked like a post from certain guys we’ve all had to suffer through for years.

In the end we lost on the road, one day rest after a hard 7 game series, down 2 starters. We won 3 of the 4 quarters, but somehow it wasn’t close and didn’t feel as close as the final score even. The outcome isn’t terribly surprising but how we got there was. I wish we knew more about Al’s availability and I’m more worried about that than the results of this game.

[Infinite Llamas]

When Tatum missed that wide open 3 to start the third. I was like “uh oh”. He instantly became passive and started making lazy passes. Maybe he was shell shocked to see Tucker back out there? He adjusted to Mathews as the series went on and he will find his footing against Tucker too but my god, it was like he saw a ghost when he saw Tucker in the court to start the half.

[Infinite Llamas]

Nesmith plays with so much energy and maybe that’s why his shot is so erratic. Almost like he can’t ever tone it down. It’s a shame because he brings a lot of value off of the bench. But until he starts hitting a 3 or two, they won’t defend him like what happened to Grant last series.

[Garbanzo]

It's the second game in a row a Celtics player gets injured because of an undercut move.
Smart (Holiday), Williams (Bam).
Hope timelord is all right.

With Horfie out in covid protocols, *** it we can't catch a break.

[soxfan2003]

I would not be as disappointed if the Celts lost to the Bucks.

But if this series ends and it's not the Celts in the Finals, it would be so disappointing.

Losing to Middleton less Milwaukee a team the Celtics outscored by 55 in the series would have been super disappointing. It wasn't by a gigantic margin but I felt the Celtics were clearly better than that version of the Bucks and should win in 6 or 7 games. Celtics had HCA as well.

Going into this series, I thought Miami was better than Middleton less Milwaukee but Celtics would still win in 6 or 7. But once Horford got covid and it was confirmed Smart was out for game 1, I've thought Miami is going to win the series. I never felt Horford was going to post big numbers in this series but his interior D and spacing/decision making on offense is underrated.

Horford playing in game 2 would be huge but it is probably more likely he misses game 3 than he comes back for game 2. A negative PCR test isn't that easy for him to get by before tonight which realistically is the only shot of him playing in game 2 if I understand the timeline of his covid diagnosis. He would then need another negative test result 24 hours later.

Smart being back will help but the Celtics players have a big time uphill climb in this series. If Butler was injured/playing bad different story but he looked good not just in terms of making shots/drawing fouls but athletically as well. Nice block shot of Tatum. I have to give the devil his due.

[bisme37]

That was an expert rope-a-doping by Miami lol. I've been watching this ish for years and know not to get ahead of myself, but last night in the first half I was thinking "I know the score is relatively close but these fools have absolutely nothing for us." It looked like a severe talent differential across the board. Even when they started making their run in the 3rd I was calm, thinking we'd weather the storm and reassert our dominance. It seemed so easy, esp compared to the Bucks series.

Our players are human just like me and they probably fell into the trap and were feeling themselves too much at halftime and thought they had the game in the bag. The Heat caught them off guard in the 3rd just like they caught me off guard. We didn't have our two vets out there and we didn't respond well at all.

But I'm confident that it won't happen again. Chalking it up to a bad quarter and a lesson learned. We'll be ready for their nasty rope-a-dopings next time!

[bisme37]

[Dangit]

This is what I wanna hear from Tatum ...this is growth and maturity... he's morphing into superstar Pierce... thats a good thing

[Fatherpain]

My prediction for the series: heat go up 3–0 with smart and Horford both out. They both return for game four and we win 4 straight to clinch a series. I don’t think the Heat can beat the Celtics @full strength.

Hope I’m wrong about the 0-3 series start and we steal game 2.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

The Celtics worst game against the Nets was game 1.
The Celtics worst game against the Bucks was game 1.
If this is the worst game of the series for the Celtics, they should be fine.

[JJHondo17]

This game was all about intensity and the lack thereof. The Celtic's intensity in the 1st half was ramped up about 25% and Miami 's was down 25%. I attribute this to the Celtic's riding their adrenaline off of a Game #7 win and the Heat's being suppressed probably looking past this game because of the lack of Smart and Horford. The 2nd half Miami was +50% (saying no way we can lose this game, that's a borderline disaster) The Celtic's intensity was down 25% probably from overall fatigue at that point and feeling a little too full of themselves after the 1st half. I expect a much more grind it out game in Game# 2, much like games 3 - 6 in the Milwaukee series. I don't think we see Al for Game# 2 but hopefully Smartacus will be back. If he's not, we're going to have to protect home court.

[SLCceltic]

We went into halftime confident and came out in the 3rd chilling. Heat came out of halftime with their A+ game ....we got rolled 3rd quarter and didn't have the gas to overcome it in the 4th

we can beat this team wo Horford as long as Rob can play the whole series, we cannot beat this team wo Horford AND Smart