Hot Sweaty Roller Coaster Ride From Hell! ECF Game 3 Loss 5/21 (MIA 2-1)

[Triple7]

Tatum is a mental midget! How can you continue to have those type of games at this stage! If he can’t get past all the bumps from PJ Tucker, then it shows what kind of a player he is. No fire! No sense of urgency! Soft! 10 pts in 40 mins???? Lol.

[Garbanzo]

If Tatum had shot 5-22, but lost the ball 3 times - then his comment to the media about him letting his teammates down would be good and understandable.

That's not the case though..

[Garbanzo]

Tatum is a mental midget! How can you continue to have those type of games at this stage! If he can’t get past all the bumps from PJ Tucker, then it shows what kind of a player he is. No fire! No sense of urgency! Soft! 10 pts in 40 mins???? Lol.

He showed in game 2 he is capable of being that guy who plays hard on offense and tries to penetrate.

He didn't even try in this game.

He is not a mental midget.
He is a spoiled player.

[yeahM8]

I did not like this game at all.

[philing00]

Didn’t come ready to play. Not desperate enough till too late as usual. Still overconfident from last game. Horrible turnovers from JB, others pushing the pass. Grant over helping on defence. Couldn’t stop Herro pick n roll.
If Jimmy wasn’t injured we wouldn’t have come close to winning. He’s the MVP of the series so far and we have 2 players better than him.
When we feed Horford at the high post, good things happen.

[The Corey's]

The Celtics are in **** trouble. The Heat come out with the energy of a 1000 suns and kept it up all game.

The Celtics were essentially brain dead with the decisions being made.

They aren't gonna get the whistle like that again either.

The Heat just play a way this franchise apparently can not figure out.

[jonige94]

Even if we get past by the Heat this team is gonna get eaten alive by the Warriors.

[TheMartian]

Tatum, Brown and Smart repeated what went wrong in Q3 of Game 1. When will they learn?

[TheMartian]

The drive and kick plays to the corner threes have been figured out by Spo. Too many times Tatum passed off to the corner ending up in the hands of a Heat player. Ime has to switch things up on offense.

[darylbe]

The Celtics are in **** trouble. The Heat come out with the energy of a 1000 suns and kept it up all game.

The Celtics were essentially brain dead with the decisions being made.

They aren't gonna get the whistle like that again either.

The Heat just play a way this franchise apparently can not figure out.

Let's be serious. They fall back into their old iso ball force habits. But to say they are terrible, Yada Yada, yea of course. But let's not act like we see them bounce back every time. That's why wthey are here in the ecf after eating garbage 1st half of the season, right?

I really wish rw3 got his he's do it of his ass. I felt the way he covers bam/the depth thst allows for the bigs is huge..

And back to your point, Celtics made so many **** passes directly at the defense. Yea, bam played amazing defense, but I'm not giving them credit for trash passing from tatum and brown over and over again.

Take that away, it would have been a W.

[Jammer]

Brutal start. Nobody could make a bucket, or even run a decent play in Q1. Talk about uphill battles. I know the Heat really pressure the ball and overplay the passing lanes; but if Jaylen doesn't commit 7 TO's and Tatum 6 TO's; if they only commit 3 instead of 13, well, this game is suddenly winnable because the points off TO's were killers. Then again, if Rob had played, Celtics win this game. After his last two outings, really have to question why Derrick White cost a 1rst Round pick, or even Josh Richardson, whose 3 point shooting could have won this game? There's probably no one who hated the Ass of Shame more than me, but IF Tatum doesn't have the worst game of 13 Celtics to make it to the floor the Celts would have won this game!!!

If the Celtics could put some shooters around Tatum, Brown and Horford, it would be harder to double team Tatum (Sam Hauser's hurt, Nik Stauskas plays less than 1 minute but still nails a 3, Pritchard takes 1 shot in 13 minutes but makes it, somewhere Ime had to find a way to get a shooter on the floor that GETS & MAKES shots). But he didn't try all year, so why start now. Why did Pritch only get 1 shot, that he made? Why did Stauskas only get one shot, that he made? The Coach has to EMPOWER these guys within the locker room. That means telling Smart, Tatum and Brown to pass the ball INSTANTLY TO BETTER SHOOTERS. The Celtics don't do that. But the Heat do, because General Erik Spoelstra empowers all his undrafted players in the locker room, and even Colonel Butler and Major Adabayo know to pass the damn ball instantly to their best shooters, even if the guy was a private in G-League a month ago.

The one area of consistency this team has with the 2019 Team that lost to the Heat is that by committing 23 Turnovers to the Heat's 8 Turnovers (15 extra Miami possessions with lots of easy points off Turnovers), the Celts were able to replicate the manner the Heat beat them in 2019 without Miami's devastating 3 point shooting (only 33% last night). Doesn't matter how good your defense is if you give a good shooting team 15 xtra possessions.

The Heat will continue to follow General Spoelstra's battle tactics of pressuring every ball handler and overplaying the passing angles. The Celtics need to be schooled immediately on what the best defense is against that kind of Offensive Defense. What's the answer? Low dribble, not high dribble (Tatum's is way too high). Have teammates set up relief points thru triangulation (at least two outlets to teammates, always, no matter where you are on the court). The rest of the Celtics have to constantly aware of player positioning to create those outlets. That will defeat double teams, and in your face on-ball pressure, but no lazy passes - crisp, well-thought passes. They have to defeat that kind of defensive pressure from Miami between their ears.

An alternative view:

Pts. + Rebounds + (0.5 x Assists) + Steals + (0.5 x Blocks) - Missed FGs - (0.5 x Missed Free Throws) - Turnovers - (0.5 x Fouls)

+35.5 Jaylen Brown (42 minutes) 40 pts. on 20 shots, 9-12 FT, 9 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 1 Steal, 1 Block, 7 TO's, 2 Fouls
+26 Al Horford (42 minutes) 20 pts. on 14 shots, 3-3 FT, 14 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Blocks, 3 Turnovers, 2 Fouls

+10.5 Marcus Smart (37 minutes) 16 pts. on 11 shots, 3-5 FT, 4 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 4 Turnovers, 6 Fouls
+8.5 Grant Williams (39 minutes) 10 pts. on 6 shots, 4-4 FT, 5 Rebounds, 1 Steal, 1 Block, 1 Turnover, 6 Fouls
+4.5 Payton Pritchard (13 minutes) 3 pts. on 1 shot, 4 Assists, 1 Foul
+3 Nik Stauskas (0 minutes) 3 pts. on 1 shot

+2 Daniel Theis (11 minutes) 1 pt. on 0 shots, 1-2 FT, 3 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 2 Turnovers
+1 Juwann Morgan (0 minutes) 1 Rebound
+1 Derrick White (14 minutes) 0 pts. on 2 shots, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 2 Blocks, 1 Foul
0 Luke Kornet (0 minutes)
0 Malik Fitts (0 minutes)
-1 Aaron Nesmith (0 minutes) 0 pts. on 1 shot
-1 Jayson Tatum (41 minutes) 10 pts. on 14 shots, 3-4 FT, 6 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 6 Turnovers, 3 Fouls

[BK_2020]

I don't know wth is going on anymore. The team looks like it can go 82-0 one quarter, then the next quarter we get the 20-21 Celtics again. I'm just glad Smart's injury is not as bad as it looked.

[Triple7]

Tatum is a mental midget! How can you continue to have those type of games at this stage! If he can’t get past all the bumps from PJ Tucker, then it shows what kind of a player he is. No fire! No sense of urgency! Soft! 10 pts in 40 mins???? Lol.

He showed in game 2 he is capable of being that guy who plays hard on offense and tries to penetrate.

He didn't even try in this game.

He is not a mental midget.
He is a spoiled player.

Spoiled player??? What does that even mean lol?
He gets frustrated easy with the no calls. He doesn’t show up consistently. If his shot ain’t falling, he shrinks away? What do you call that? That’s all mental. He can hang with the very best on both ends, but he gets affected by something not going his way easy. Like game 6 against the bucks, his shot were falling, and he carried us in the clutch, but if his shot is off, he doesn’t do other stuff to help his team in some way, he even adds to the problem with lazy passes, lazy defense, and constant complaining. Just look at luka. That guy never shy away when it gets tough. I really thought this was the time Tatum ascends. It could still be, but he can’t have performances like this evry other game or two. 10pts in 40mins??? He could score that in his sleep in 1 quarter. This is purely mental!

[Celts17Pride]

17 mil a year for 7/4/2.5 on 35/24/83 in the playoffs

and afraid to shoot the ball

[Celts17Pride]

Not sure if anyone noticed or mentioned it yet, but Tatum was awful out there.

He knew! Awareness is half the battle!

Read on Twitter

That’s all you can ask for, be accountable

[Garbanzo]

Tatum is a mental midget! How can you continue to have those type of games at this stage! If he can’t get past all the bumps from PJ Tucker, then it shows what kind of a player he is. No fire! No sense of urgency! Soft! 10 pts in 40 mins???? Lol.

He showed in game 2 he is capable of being that guy who plays hard on offense and tries to penetrate.

He didn't even try in this game.

He is not a mental midget.
He is a spoiled player.

Spoiled player??? What does that even mean lol?
He gets frustrated easy with the no calls. He doesn’t show up consistently. If his shot ain’t falling, he shrinks away? What do you call that? That’s all mental. He can hang with the very best on both ends, but he gets affected by something not going his way easy. Like game 6 against the bucks, his shot were falling, and he carried us in the clutch, but if his shot is off, he doesn’t do other stuff to help his team in some way, he even adds to the problem with lazy passes, lazy defense, and constant complaining. Just look at luka. That guy never shy away when it gets tough. I really thought this was the time Tatum ascends. It could still be, but he can’t have performances like this evry other game or two. 10pts in 40mins??? He could score that in his sleep in 1 quarter. This is purely mental!

It's funny how you ask what a spoiled player is, then describing it yourself.

He succeeded way too fast (got to the ECF 3 times and he is 24).

No sense of urgency whatsoever.
Look at Tucker, who played in Israel.
Look at Butler, who was a homeless for a short period as a teen.

I can imagine them playing bad.
What I can't imagine, is them not having that sense of urgency.

[Setshot33]

After getting past the Bucks and their size in the paint, you'd think Tatum would realize he's freed up to drive vs these Heat players.

Wonder where his head is at? It surely isn't in the game.

"We played like a bunch of women tonight"-Larry Bird

Larry's words would fit Tatum's performance.

[Larry_Russell]

Only team who cam beat the celtics this series is the celtics.


And the cs have done it twice

[NYCelticsfan136]

Even if we get past by the Heat this team is gonna get eaten alive by the Warriors.

Eaten by the warriors? That’s strong. Miami would get eaten alive. This team is capable of beating the warriors. The only problem is their laziness. It’s a problem game in and game out. No inconsistency.

[Triple7]

He showed in game 2 he is capable of being that guy who plays hard on offense and tries to penetrate.

He didn't even try in this game.

He is not a mental midget.
He is a spoiled player.

Spoiled player??? What does that even mean lol?
He gets frustrated easy with the no calls. He doesn’t show up consistently. If his shot ain’t falling, he shrinks away? What do you call that? That’s all mental. He can hang with the very best on both ends, but he gets affected by something not going his way easy. Like game 6 against the bucks, his shot were falling, and he carried us in the clutch, but if his shot is off, he doesn’t do other stuff to help his team in some way, he even adds to the problem with lazy passes, lazy defense, and constant complaining. Just look at luka. That guy never shy away when it gets tough. I really thought this was the time Tatum ascends. It could still be, but he can’t have performances like this evry other game or two. 10pts in 40mins??? He could score that in his sleep in 1 quarter. This is purely mental!

It's funny how you ask what a spoiled player is, then describing it yourself.

He succeeded way too fast (got to the ECF 3 times and he is 24).

No sense of urgency whatsoever.
Look at Tucker, who played in Israel.
Look at Butler, who was a homeless for a short period as a teen.

I can imagine them playing bad.
What I can't imagine, is them not having that sense of urgency.

Nah! We have a different definition of what spoiled means. I disagree. I don’t think getting to the conf finals several times count as success. Guys like Kobe, Wade, magic won way way early in their career. In fact, you would have thought he learned already from losing in the conf finals several times. He is not spoiled! Let’s just agree to disagree on that. He needs to show up. He has the talent obviously. It’s all mental at this point.