You in all probability felt a little bit like this for those who watched the Boston Celtics’ 118-114 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas.
It was a day when Celtics followers skilled nearly each emotion potential whereas watching their crew battle it out; pleasure, frustration, hope, defeat, and plenty of extra. The sport was actually a rollercoaster.
However, why?
Other than the truth that basketball is a recreation of runs, the wide selection of feelings might be attributed to the Cs enjoying a few of their very best and absolute worst basketball throughout the identical 48 minutes — or as head coach Joe Mazzulla put it, “inconsistent basketball.”
“We simply didn’t have nice offensive rhythm and we didn’t have nice defensive execution,” stated Mazzulla. “Hear, we’re enjoying inconsistent basketball. So, we’ve got to be higher at each ends of the ground. We must be extra constant on each ends of the ground.”
The inconsistency stems previous this one recreation, however to Mazzulla’s level, Boston appeared misplaced offensively to open the fourth quarter.
“That’s a good criticism from him. We’ve got to essentially dive into our work a little bit extra and perceive that we are able to’t loosen up during times of the sport,” stated Al Horford, who needs to be exempt from all criticism after his classic efficiency in opposition to Philly.
Unexpectedly their two-point lead become a 15-point gap and it felt like each shot that they put up was a troublesome one, even when it was a makeable shot.
Is it unfathomable to assume that Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown would sink the above photographs?
No, we’ve all seen them do it loads of occasions. That doesn’t change that these are powerful seems, even when it’s widespread for them to drop. Philadelphia did a fantastic job of creating Boston work for every part to open the ultimate body and it wound up being a giant distinction on this recreation.
It doesn’t assist that the 76ers have been creating wide-open seems on the opposite finish on nearly each possession.
They have been free, whereas the Celtics have been enjoying tense.
“I believe we performed effectively the final six minutes of the fourth,” Tatum defined. “I believe simply that begin of the fourth quarter, actually, we struggled on each ends of the ground.”
JT wasn’t mendacity. The ultimate six minutes of this recreation noticed Boston play a few of their greatest basketball of the 12 months.
As soon as they have been all-but pronounced useless with the third Caleb Martin (30% three-point shooter this 12 months, by the best way) three of the quarter, Boston primarily sat up of their chair and locked in, particularly on the defensive finish.
The engagement on protection was evening and day from what we’d all watched for the primary half of the quarter. As soon as they locked in, the Cs took away Philly’s open seems and turned them into contested mid-range jumpers and turnovers, and rapidly the massive deficit was erased.
The actual subject right here is that the engagement is at all times underneath their management. Certain, you possibly can’t management if somebody like Caleb Martin rapidly is a sharpshooter, however you possibly can at all times management your personal focus.
“Yeah, I believe we’ve obtained to take some possession,” Tatum continued. “We’ve obtained to be higher. We’ve obtained to acknowledge the issues that we’ve completed, not that, you already know, not so nice. We obtained to look within the mirror and man up. And we simply obtained to be higher. We absolutely imagine in ourselves, you already know, the issues that we are able to do after we’re absolutely locked in, and we’ve completed it time and time once more.”
Tatum’s proper. The Celtics have earned a mulligan or two from the neighborhood. An NBA Championship will try this. On the identical time, they’ve now misplaced three of their final 4 video games, and 4 of their final seven. Boston is 6-5 in December after dropping to the 76ers — inconsistent, if you’ll.
