The Celtics Quite Literally Threw Away Game 3 As They Blew Their Prime Opportunity To Take Control Of The Series
Elsa. Getty Images.
Advertisement
Unreal. Absolutely unreal. After taking Game 2 and snagging all the momentum in the series, the Celtics quite literally just threw it all away with what they just did in Game 3. I'm still a little shocked at what just happened. I mean, here you are, at home, and you come out insanely flat. One of the worst starts I've ever seen from this team. Suddenly it's 39-18 before you could even blink. Couldn't make a shot to save their lives, nobody played anything even close to resembling what I would call defense, and the lead ballooned to 26 points in the first half. You knew the Heat would respond given how they just lost, but I did not expect the Celts to no show like that.
It goes back to what I asked in this morning's blog. How would they respond to wins? The answer, was going back to playing like assholes. I don't know what else you would call what we just watched. The Celts turned it over 23 TIMES WHICH LED TO 33 MIAMI POINTS. 33 POINTS. THEY LOST THE GAME BY FUCKING 6. I'm sorry for yelling, but what the hell man. This is now 2 of the first 3 games we've seen this shit
It's clear as fucking day. Take care of the ball, nobody in the league can beat this team. Do nothing but turn it over, and that's how you lose. That's how you blow a spot in the Finals. When this team shoots themselves in the foot, shit like this happens. I dunno how many more times they need to see it. It's how they lost each MIL game, it's how they lost Game 1, and now here it is again. A prime opportunity to go up 2-1 and really put the pressure on MIA. You even got the prayer of Jimmy Butler not playing the entire second half and you STILL couldn't stop turning the ball over. 11 in the first half, 13 in the second. Tatum and Brown accounted for 13 of the 24. What the fuck even is that? Oh, did I mention the Celts also missed 7 FTs in a game they lost by 6?
Speaking of Tatum, you just cannot have a 3-14 performance right now. Not in this spot. You can't have 2x the TOs as FGM. At home. On no planet is 10 points acceptable. All I ask is that this team just plays normal. That's it. Just play your normal game. That does not include turning it over 24 times and Tatum scoring 10 points. The Heat came out and punched first, you clawed your way back to get it to a 1 point game with 2:40 left, and they couldn't seal the deal. All we saw was more TOs. Here's another game where one horrific quarter did you in. There's just no excuse to start how they did, and there's no excuse to continue to be so careless with the basketball. This is the ECF. The Finals and a title are on the line here. You can't take care of the ball in your own building? The Heat had a franchise record 19 seals in this game. It's all just so fucking frustrating to be throwing games away like this.
Advertisement
Make no mistake, Game 4 is now a must win…for the Celts. If they didn't play like assholes, it'd be the opposite. But they didn't. I don't know much, but I know you cannot go back to MIA down 3-1. I also know this team always responds after a loss, but all it takes is not doing it once. That's what was a stake tonight and why this is such a painful loss. You literally threw the game away. Not figuratively, like, you actually couldn't stop throwing the ball away.
All you had to do was protect your home floor. Once again, the Celts failed to do just that, and now it's back to square one. Not only do you need all the remaining home games, you once again need to win in Miami. A golden opportunity was sitting there right for the Celtics to take, and they fumbled it. They fucking threw that shit away.
So frustrating.