PLAYOFFS 2023 - EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS GAME #7 - POST GAME MIAMI HEAT - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Boston’s Series Comeback Ends With Ugly Game 7 Loss
The Celtics struggled offensively

NESN by Greg Dudek

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics couldn’t put the finishing touches on their historic comeback as they suffered a crushing 103-84 defeat to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night at TD Garden.

Boston’s season ends one win why of making the NBA Finals for a second consecutive year while the Heat, who took the series, 4-3, advance to face the Denver Nuggets.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Celtics were attempting to do what none of the other 150 teams before them could do. But they met the same fate and it was made even worse due to Boston falling flat on its home court.

The Celtics got behind early and could never make up the ground. A team that lived and died by the 3-point shot missed their first 12 shots from beyond the arc and didn’t hit its first triple until 2:07 to go in the second quarter.

And every time the Celtics tried to make a run, the Heat showed poise and resiliency, which Boston lacked, at every turn to come through with an answer. The Celtics got only as close as seven points in the second half only for the Heat to see their advantage swell over 20 points in the final frame. It didn’t help matters that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, who turned his ankle less than 30 seconds into the game and never looked the same, performed well below their capabilities. Brown turned the ball over an eye-popping eight times.

And in a reversal of roles from last year, it was the Celtics watching the Heat celebrate on their home floor this time. And for Miami, there’s no better record right now than 0-151.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Caleb Martin continued to be an X-factor for the Heat. He tallied 26 points and on an efficient 11-for-16 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds to make a huge difference.

— Jimmy Butler delivered big buckets yet again. The Heat star netted 28 points on 12-for-28 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

— Derrick White tried to will the Celtics back with a sensational third-quarter effort. He scored 12 of his 18 points in that frame.

WAGER WATCH
Tatum didn’t perform well offensively, but still hit the Over for rebounds with FanDuel Sportsbook setting the over/under at 10.5. The Over had -115 odds and with Tatum recording 11 rebounds, a $100 wager would have netted a total of $186.96.

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It is a shame that a game is determined by an injury early in the game. However, the pedigree of players that the Celtics possess should never have lead to this loss against multiple players who were never even drafted! They palyed within a system and beat us fair a square.

Gme #3 away was the pivotal moment for the Celtics now and going into the future. They quit on their coach!

Enough, let's get a shake up underway and bring some players who will not quit!

This is very painful for me to watch and accept as a Celtic fan since 1958!

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Obviously Tatum was severely limited, hated watching him limp after the press conference walking. What a blown opportunity again, just wasn’t meant to be. With Tatum hobbled, would have been great if the other star could have had a break out game finally. I know I ripped him off his play on the game on, but I don’t think Brown was ever right, his hand injury obviously came at the wrong time for the team. I thought we tried to play hard, but the Heat had better execution and strategy. They got so many more easy shots, they were burying 3’s and back cutting us to death.

Alot of our shots were challenged and difficult, wish we could turn on that magic from game 4 and 5, but they made the necessary adjustments and Tatum was a shell of himself. Jaylen played the worse game of his career. I agree with Barkley that we make life difficult for ourselves with too many tough challenged shots and when the 3 doesn’t fall, we need a plan B, not just keep on chucking them. Refs were really bad, RWill had a clean block on Bam and they got 2 foul shots out of it; then Tatum with a nice sidestep lay up, a move he does all the time and he got a traveling call. Those were momentum killers and totally wrong calls. RWill not used enough again IMHO. Brogdon’s injury really effected us this series, after game 1 he couldn’t hit a shot, he might have helped make a big difference. Kudos to Miami, they lost key players and still battled thru. This team still needs alot of upgrades, we are very good, but no where as good as some media makes us out to be.

No team bashing here, it just was not meant to be. I had a bad feeling all day long, being here in Boston and watching ad after ad after ad about how they were going to be the “first” NBA team to pull this off. The pressure was immense, and all it did was make Miami more determined to win that game, and win in they did. So…..we move on again to an empty post season. Here is hoping that some of these guys are finally able to get healthy. Jayson was so clearly in pain all night, I still feel as I said a week ago that there is something more going on with Jaylen, Brogden ? Hope he does not need surgery. Clearly a disappointing end to a season that started out with so much anticipation. How many players will be gone from that bench? Who knows, clearly we are lacking something.

I am sure there will be those ripping them apart, I will move on, a Celtic fan, always hoping for the next “great” move but I won’t be shocked by anything that happens in post season.

Have a good summer, see you around and about

I don’t want to come off as sour grapes, but Tatum hurting his ankle on the first play of the game changed everything. He had to be used as a decoy the rest of the first quarter and sparingly after that. The majority of the offense runs through him. It’s just bad luck. Joe was between a rock and a hard place. Do you sit Tatum or hope he can play through it? He tried to gut it out , but he was 50% at best. You can’t plan for something like this either. If you know a guy isn’t playing then at least you can devise a game plan. Brogdon also had nothing. If he would have been on his game, we might have had a chance. You can’t blame Jaylen, he was trying to make plays, but was out of his comfort zone. Sure we missed threes , but Tatum’s injury changed the dynamics of the whole game.

Give the Heat credit, they took advantage and played smart and disciplined. Martin was just unbelievable. My guess he will revert to his usual self in the Finals.

We have won our share of titles, but this loss is frustrating. We had the best team, although Denver would have been a challenge. Geez, thinking back injuries have ruined a lot of title runs. Havlicek hurting his shooting shoulder in 73, KG in 2009, Perk blowing his knee out in game 6 finals in 2010, Rondo’s elbow (courtesy of dirty Dwayne Wade play) in the playoffs in 2011, and now losing Tatum and Brogdon in this series. It goes to show that you have to be good, but also have to avoid injury to win a title.

I can’t blame Joe or anyone for this loss. Sure if we would have not given them the first two at home we wouldn’t have been in a position where a sprained ankle could doom us. However, we fought back like champs. It just wasn’t in the cards this year.

My hat is off to Jayson and Malcolm trying to play through injuries. Derrick should now be ion the Celtics Pantheon of memorable players. What a find he was. Thanks Brad for him and Brogdon.

The Js were a combined 13-36, 2-13 from 3 and only 6 ftas.  Jayson has an excuse, his ankle, but Jaylen might have just left a ton of money on the table with his 8-23, 1-9 from 3, 8 turnover game.  8 freaking turnovers.  Jaylen complained (as much as he ever does) about how he wants to be more of a playmaker and not just stand in the corner.  Work on your skills, Jaylen.  You have improved something every offseason career-to-date.  That should Priority 1 this offseason.

We shot 39% on the game and 21% from 3.  Can't win like that.

We took 82 fgas vs 86 for them.  Over the 7 games of this series our fgas per game were 81,79,98, 84,79,78,82.  Our regular season average was 89 fgas/game (Thanks to Steve 3344 for these stats, my own Dick Lipe).  So the only game where our pace was faster than our 82 game average was game 3.  A year's worth of coaching and in-game repetition forgotten under pressure.

One last point:  Jimmy Butler's a killa.  It's not just his game, it's his whole attitude.  Championship teams need at least one, usually two or more.  Pop had Duncan and Manu.  The Lakers had Shaq and Kobe and we had Pierce and KG.  In Toronto's Championship year Nick Nurse had Kawhi, the Cyborg.  Who's our killa?  Smart?  Forget about his game last night, he fits the job description, but he's not the lead actor in our cast of players.  We need at least one of the Js to be that Death Star.  Smart can't do it by himself, obviously.

A sad ending to a promising season.  I will get around to posting a thread that grades the season and playoffs sometime soon but, for now, I'm done.  Peace.  Out.


Bob


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I just posted an article that appeared on WEEI website titled : Malcolm Brogdon perfectly sums up Celtics’ identity crisis

The problem was our offense all year long which did not show up clearly in data statistics.

Clearly lasy year was all about defense........this year offense and shooting 3 pointers.

It sounds that Brad Steven's philosophy of shooting 3 pointers when he was coach again showed up this year with a young and no head coaching experience Coach Joe. I wonder if Joe spoke to Brad about this very topic?

Clearly defense wins championships not offense.  We were whisling and walking past too many grave yards this year hoping we could achieve wins without getting spooked!

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Post Game Pouting:




The late ZZ Hill had a song called ‘Open House at my House’ and that best describes what took place at TD Garden. Not average shooters. Players whose strength is shooting and we passed invitations to them to shoot and make.



Hear no evil- speak no evil- see no evil…Have no fun.

We were not even close to being ready.
We made sure that we were not going to come out and make history.

-The Heat made sure that they didn’t come out on the wrong side of history and we also made sure that they didn’t.

-Can’t hit 3’s can’t win? (9-41) This is basketball. Not Top Golf!

-Tatum was hurt. I’ll cut him some slack.

-Grant Williams played more minutes than Rob Williams!?

The Coach Mass dream:

-The dream about coach Massimino the other night gave me so much hope. We’ve never lost a game the night before coach Mass would crawl into my dreams with good talk. Tonight coach Mass watched from above while we watched from below as our beloveds hit rock bottom.

-It also brings to mind what Massimino used to say to me during off season. Massimino was also a Phys ED. teacher so I’d see hm often. During the off season he never said “Hi” “How’s it hanging” or anything like that.
He would just stop me and grab my arm and ask,
“You bouncing that ball”? Of course I would say “yes coach”.
His reply to that was always the same. He’d say,
“You better!”

Maybe  Coach Mass will come back for an encore and ask Jaylen the same question.

“You bouncing that Ball Brown”
“Yes sir” Answers Jaylen.
Coach Mass would probably say:
“Well you better get better” And walk away as he’s always done in the past.

I really don’t want to pick on JB but let’s face it-

-Brown was BRUTAL
A Memorial Day Brown out.




-We all know about JB’s hand injury and don’t doubt its validity.
The injury is real. His hand is hurt and his dribbling hand is hurting-him, his team and Celtsaholics world wide.

So why try and dribble between 3 defenders when you know when even at 100% it is a challenge for you.

Why the Long 3’s early in the clock

Question: Will 2nd team JB get (super) Maxed out?

I whipped out the dictionary AND googled the meaning:

Ready?

max out:
* to reach a point at which no more improvement, profit, or benefit can occur; level off:

* to reach the limit of one's capacity, endurance, etc.

Now the “Super” part

Ready?

* of the highest degree, power, etc.

* of an extreme or excessive degree.

* Informal.
very good; first-rate; excellent.

Contradiction or what?

Cue the late Craig Mack :

“You wont be around next year”

(My line) ‘Yeah I know thats a bit severe, I’m just kickin’ mad flava in ya ear’
     
Without a doubt..it’s going to be very interesting round here.

-The Miami zone? I don’t wanna hear it.
If the powers that be can’t figure it out then the powers that be should not be.

-We have 2 All NBA players that got outplayed by a dude named Caleb.
At this point it’s unfair to say it but its fact. He was An un-drafted rotation player.

-Do not include Derrick White as part of this demise.
Derrick did everything he could to avoid being embarrassed.
He may have been the only one.
He.Is.A.Keeper!

-The thing that stands out to me is-
It wasn’t their 2 “stars” who murdered us.
Our 2 “stars’ Aided and abetted (8 turnovers by “Butter Fingers” Brown)



-The rest was self inflicted.
It was suicidal gesturing.
That means our beloveds didn’t even have the courage to go through with it.
So the fans suffered through it and Boo booed them for it.

-Do not include Derrick White as part of this demise. You are strictly forbidden to even think it.

I repeat-
DO NOT include D White. Derrick did everything he could to avoid being embarrassed.

Quotable/Notable:

-Abbey: Joe, what happened out there?
Joe: They played better than us.
Abbey: Why:
Joe: I don’t know.
Abbey: What did you tell the guys in the locker room?
Joe: “I love them”.

Awwww woody woody. How sweet.

But wait..there’s more.

Joe: “They could have folded but they didn’t.”

Joe was either not watching the game or he was referring to clean laundry.

Eddie House: ‘I don’t know what lotion Brown’s using on his hands but he needs to stop’.

Malcolm: ‘They handled us tonight. We shouldn’t lose a game at home like that’

Shaq; (on teammates missing 3’s)  “I’d tell them if you shoot another 3 I’m punching you in the face”

Chuck:“No one can survive taking tough shots”
             
Chuck:“Coach it or allow it to happen”

Kenny Smith: “Joes the man for the job”

-We can’t put this all on Joe..($14 mil for 4yrs) Just some of it. The parts that fit his job description.
What should not be said thats been said numerous times is -
“He was thrusted into thIs job at last minute” Outside of physics,‘Thrusted’ does not mean ‘forced’.
He had a choice and accepted the challenge and failed.
This does not mean he’s a bad coach. Hell, 28 other coaches failed this season as well. Joe’s no different. As I said last nights results cannot not be totally placed at Joe’s doorstep.
The players play the game and they deserve most of the blame. (Cept hits)

Boxscore Bigs:

Derrick White-

Screw the % D White was big time last night!

Rob: 8 and 6 (13:59?)

Boxer Shorts:

Jaylen “Butter Finger”Brown - 1-9 from 3- 8 Turnovers!

Post Game Pettiness:

-Celts were 5-6 at home during this years playoffs. Home Court “Advantage” Me a$$

-I finally figured out how to listen on radio/stream (Sean and Max) without their PBP being too far ahead with the actual game are watching.
Take notes-

I paused the radio audio 10 secs while the actual game on TV is still moving.
When the visual got to a point where I paused the radio audio, I took the Audio off pause and both game and radio PBP is now matching.
Too little too late.
Hope I’m around next season so I can remember that little trick.

-I don’t plan on watching much of the Finals if any at all.

Just the thought and sight of watching Kyle Lowery waddling up and down the court will bring nothing but additional trauma in my life while trying to bury this grief.

- More talk and celebration of ‘Heat Culture’ will certainly permeate though out the finals, that is until Denver stomps a hole in their a$$

-Eddie House is so good at explaining the game. He’s a keeper as far as Im concerned.
Scal always talks about what they shouldn’t be doing and then morphs into insider basketball language to explain what they should be doing. ‘Play with energy and play hard’ are his favorites. The casual viewer understands simplistic dumb-downed speak. Not coach speak.  Eddie does both better. The difference is glaring.

Keep Eddie. Send Scal to Connecticut Summer School of Broadcasting.


My predictions forthcoming. However, I will include this diddy from-
Nose McGillicuddie AKA Stephen A Smith.

“The Celtics are not going to pay Jaylen Brown Super Max money”

Despite all the bashing I’ve done, I still love this team and am still optimistic going forward.

Love ya C’s!

Rob Williams with just 14 minutes?

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Brian Robb
Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Robert Williams was throwing up in between playing stints during the Celtics’ Game 7 loss per @ShamsCharania. He was dealing with a stomach illness and played 14 minutes in total. – 2:12 PM

Ryan Blackburn
Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
Can’t believe Robert Williams throwing up caused Jaylen Brown to be so bad last night. – 2:19 PM

NYCelt wrote:Rob Williams with just 14 minutes?

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Brian Robb
Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Robert Williams was throwing up in between playing stints during the Celtics’ Game 7 loss per @ShamsCharania. He was dealing with a stomach illness and played 14 minutes in total. – 2:12 PM

Ryan Blackburn
Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
Can’t believe Robert Williams throwing up caused Jaylen Brown to be so bad last night. – 2:19 PM

https://www.si.com/nba/2023/05/30/celtics-robert-williams-was-throwing-up-during-game-7-loss-heat-report

Dude your a professional athlete, know how to be there when your team needs you, start eating yogurt or something and cut out sugar and donuts and other junk food….weak excuse

cowens/oldschool wrote:Dude your a professional athlete, know how to be there when your team needs you, start eating yogurt or something and cut out sugar and donuts and other junk food….weak excuse

Cow -

RWIII was legitimately sick with a stomach virus. He played through it and didn’t mention it himself or use it as an excuse. He showed some grit and played well when he was on the floor, especially considering being ill. Barf, get back in there and play tough D anyway? That’s 1970s Celtic tough mentality.

NYCelt wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Dude your a professional athlete, know how to be there when your team needs you, start eating yogurt or something and cut out sugar and donuts and other junk food….weak excuse

Cow -

RWIII was legitimately sick with a stomach virus. He played through it and didn’t mention it himself or use it as an excuse. He showed some grit and played well when he was on the floor, especially considering being ill. Barf, get back in there and play tough D anyway? That’s 1970s Celtic tough mentality.

I understand, my point is to take better care of himself, not let himself get sick

Rob, leave Little Debbie alone.
She’s too young, too sweet and hazardous to your health. :>)

Ktron wrote:Rob, leave Little Debbie alone.
She’s too young, too sweet and hazardous to your health. :>)

Handing Ktron the quote of the day.

Bonus points for being original, too.

NYCelt wrote:

Ktron wrote:Rob, leave Little Debbie alone.
She’s too young, too sweet and hazardous to your health. :>)

Handing Ktron the quote of the day.

Bonus points for being original, too.

And make sure she has no affiliations with the Celtics

NYCelt wrote:

Ktron wrote:Rob, leave Little Debbie alone.
She’s too young, too sweet and hazardous to your health. :>)

Handing Ktron the quote of the day.

Bonus points for being original, too.

Gracias’

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
MIAMI - 3-POINT SHOOTING Regular Season: 34.4% First two rounds: 36.3% Conference Finals: 43.4% Finals Game 1: 33.3%


Bob


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