We haven’t seen the best of the Boston Celtics in these playoffs yet.
Sure, there have been glimpses. After that shocking Game 2 loss to the Heat, the Celtics made a few adjustments, tightened up their defense, trusted that the law of averages would work in their favor, and successfully walked the tightrope over the first round. Three blowout wins later, they eliminated Miami. An autopsy of their demise only revealed what Boston has done all year to their opponents on their way to a 64-18 regular season record: bury teams under a barrage of threes (nearly averaging 16-of-41 in their wins) and play suffocating defense (96.4 points per 100 possessions).
You don’t finish the regular season 64-18 with a 11.7 net rating without a really good offense (1st in the league and historically great) and and a really good defense (2nd in the league). But we know that the Celtics can be even better.
Sure, the casual nature they approach losses — particularly Thursday’s Game 2 blowout to the Cavaliers — can be frustrating. Joe Mazzulla’s open-armed embrace of hardship sometimes feels like some condescending crap your parents might tell you in a bad day. Jayson Tatum’s perceived indifference when he parrots “it’s a make or miss league” isn’t what fans want to hear either (even if it’s true), because perception is reality.
The variance of Game 2 can be mistaken as a lack of effort. There was certainly some of that. Jaylen Brown called the team’s performance on that side of the ball “unacceptable” and when you compound Boston’s cold shooting night (8-for-35 from 3) with Cleveland’s 13-for-28, that’s a recipe for fan angst.
We want a rallying cry. They want Denver head coach Michael Malone saying after losing two home games to the Timberwolves, “I was probably more disappointed — not on the court [but] off the court, the reaction to the adversity. I had never seen that in my nine years. That was my first time in the last six years of making the playoffs. As things got tough, we just kinda fell apart and kinda separated. As we all know, you can’t do that. That’s when you have to come together, help each other, and support each other.” The Nuggets answered that call with a resounding 117-90 win in Minnesota last night to get back in the series.
We want our Celtics back, too.
There’s obviously the Kristaps Porzingis part of it all. Jayson Tatum called him “probably the most important guy on our team for what we’re trying to accomplish.” He’s again out for Game 3 in Cleveland, but there are positive signs that the right calf strain isn’t as serious as once perceived. With (gulp) Dean Wade and Jarrett Allen nearing returns, Porzingis’ absence looms larger, but hopefully, that ignites a sense of urgency in the Cs.
As vital as KP is, Boston is 21-4 without him. Mazzulla has stressed the importance of winning in different ways. Where is that Celtics team that made just five three-pointers back in February but found a way to beat the 76ers with 37 trips to the free throw line? Where is that Celtics team that rattled off eleven straight wins in February and capped off March with a 12-4 record?
After starting the postseason as the prohibitive favorite to raise Banner 18, the Celtics have fallen out of the contender conversation. It’s not their fault that they faced a depleted Heat team in Round 1 and really, haven’t played competitive basketball in nearly a month. Outside of the New England area, we’ve seen gritty performances all over the NBA: a hobbled Knicks team is winning clutch games seemingly every night; the Mavericks just won a road game against the #1 seed in the West; Denver and Minnesota have been throwing haymakers in their second round series.
We just haven’t seen that level of fight yet from Boston. We’ve seen water reach its level with their shooting splits and eventually, the numbers that have favored the Celtics for the last nine months work out in the end, but a fight? A will to win? A drag out, play-every-possession-like-it’s-your-last fight?
It hasn’t happened.
Yet.
