There Is Seemingly Nothing The Celtics Love More Than Dragging Their Entire Fanbase Through Emotional Hell In The Playoffs

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

One might think that after a night of staring at my ceiling unable to sleep as I replayed that all time horrific 4th quarter over in over in my head that I would start today ready to turn the page and move onto Game 6. You can't change the past, ya know? What's done is done. 

Sadly, I am not ready just yet. Despite my in the moment blog last night, I have more to get off my chest and get out of my body ahead of Thursday's PRETTY SIGNIFICANT Game 6, and frankly I don't even really remember what we talked about last night because I blogged that entire thing blinded by a combination of rage, annoyance, embarrassment and frustration. Frankly, I was under the impression we already had the Celtics troll game this series in Game 2, so to see them fumble yet another home game brought back all types of emotions that I had hoped would remain buried forever at this point.

In 2020, we saw the Celts up 3-2 against the Raptors, only to choke away Game 6

In 2022, we had the horrific collapse against the Bucks in Game 5 in Round 2 to lose that game at home (which did give us Tatum's Game 6, but still)

Later in that run, while it wasn't a Game 6 because of the seeding, we saw the Celts choke a 3-2 lead at home in Game 6 to the Heat (which gave us that awesome Game 7, but still)

In the Finals that year, we saw the Celts choke away their home game in Game 4 to swing momentum and ultimately lose that series.

In 2023, we saw the Celts choke Game 5 up 3-2 at home via a Trae Young Game winner

The very next series, we saw them lose another swing Game 6 at home vs the Sixers (which then gave us Tatum's Game 6 and 7, but still)

We had some troll games in 2024, but those were proven to be isolated outliers due to shooting variance. In each one of those series, when the Celts were presented with the opportunity to close it out, that's what they did. It should be no surprise that the one team that didn't play with their food ended up winning the title. 

For whatever reason, this team refuses to build on its success. It's honestly bizarre and very very annoying. 

I mean I know they're adversity addicts and all, but I'm going to have to ask them to please cut the shit. This team now has 8 home losses in the playoffs since 2023 as double digit favorites. How is that even a real sentence? There's a reason why every time Celts fans see that they're huge favorites we get nervous. We know what that means. More often than not, you're going to get the type of performance we saw last night. I'm not sure if this happens at the same rate with other teams around the league, but I'm going to guess it doesn't when you're talking about the best of the best in the NBA. 

I feel as though only the Celtics could drop Game 2 at home, go on the road and win both games in Philly with the second game being their second 30+ point blowout, only to then immediately fumble Game 5 at home and put the entire series up in the air. It's so on brand it hurts. And not only do they lose, but they lose doing some shit that you almost never see happen. In Game 2, it was 32 missed 3PA, which was the 2nd most in franchise history. Last night, it was missing 14 straight 4th quarter shots. I mean, give me a fucking break. 

OK, I think we all get the idea. Let's move on, talk our way through the pain and one of the more disgusting performances of the season and then collectively turn the page. It's all we can do at this point.

The Good

- Lol, yeah right

The Bad

- There's a lot of blame to go around for what we witnessed in Game 5, but I would like to begin with talking about the performance of Joe Mazzulla. As a well known Mazzulla Ball believer, I am nothing if not fair. Last night may have been one of his worst performances of the season. Not in terms of scheme or approach, that really wasn't an issue. The issue there was the lack execution.

Where Mazzulla failed in my opinion came through his sub patterns and rotations. Let's start with the sub patterns.

Payton Pritchard playing only 26 minutes in this game is pretty inexcusable. Not only has he been pretty clearly the Celts 3rd best player, he was really the only one putting constant pressure on the rim. With how much Derrick White is struggling right now, the Sixers defense isn't even guarding him at the moment. They're sagging off, clogging the paint and living with his shooting which has been complete dogshit (29/21%). Having Pritchard on the floor solves that problem, because the Sixers need to guard him. If you look at all the successful lineups this series, it's pretty obvious that Pritchard needs to not only be on the floor, he needs to be playing 35+ minutes

This was also the case in Game 5, as Pritchard was a +8 in a 16 point loss. In his 26 minutes, the Celts had a 132 ORTG / 119 DRTG / +12.8 net. Pritchard only playing 10 minutes in the 2nd half and only 4 minutes in the 4th quarter was coaching malpractice. Especially with how good he's been this series.

I understand the value that Derrick brings on the floor, but it can't come at the expense of a player actually producing. Sticking with White paid off in Game 3, but doing it again in Game 5 proved to be rather costly. 

My next gripe comes down to how Joe handled Embiid, especially in the 2nd half. Not so much who he had on the floor to defend him because there is no good option there, but the fact that I can't really remember a single time the Celts put Embiid into actions in the second half/4th quarter. With how the Sixers are helping on drives and playing the gaps with Embiid on the floor, not only should the Celts be playing the floor spacing 5s more, but they also need to get Embiid out of the paint and into actions. Instead, we saw shit like Jaylen spamming isos, which led to tough contested 2pt FGA, which of course didn't go in. 

Advertisement

Because there was no floor spacing big on the floor in the 4th, it allowed Embiid to just camp out in the paint. Because they never really put him in actions, they didn't attack his conditioning. I would say the same thing was true for Paul George as well. When do you remember the Celts forcing George to exert energy and fight over screens? All he had to do was play iso defense, which he was able to do at a very successful rate. 

Overall, everything about the process of this game was bad, and that's where I look at the coaching staff. If you miss open looks, so be it. If those looks are generated through good process, I can't complain. But when the process AND the results are bad, that's unacceptable at this stage of the season. Game 2 was more about the Sixers shooting variance. Game 5 was more about the Celts playing with bad process and hoping for good results. That is not a winning formula in the playoffs, I don't cre who you're playing.

- Maybe it's just me, but whenever I see certain things happen to start games, I almost always know what version of the team we're about to get.

It starts with turnovers. When the Celts come out and are careless with the basketball, it's your first warning sign that they are about to lay an egg.

Next, comes misses at the rim. How many point blank misses did we see early in this game? When shit like this rolls out, that's your next sign

The 3rd sign? FTs. Once this team starts missing a shit ton of FTs, and it's mainly from their best players, that's the cherry on top. In this game, the Celts missed 9 FTs with Tatum/Brown combining for 5 of them.

When the Celts came out flat to start this game, deep in my bones I had a feeling the performance we got was in our future. There's just such a difference when this team is locked in compared to when they troll. Any time they started to get separation, they went back to being undisciplined and couldn't execute, which allowed the Sixers to stay attached. For that to happen at home in a closeout game is beyond frustrating, especially with a team that's been there before and knows how important it is to not play with your food. To come out the way they did was pathetic.

- Once again, Neemy committing dumb fouls 94 feet from the rim proved to be costly. I'll never understand why he keeps doing this, and last night was a perfect example of why it cannot continue to happen.

In the 3rd quarter, after Sam Hauser was burned by a backdoor cut, it forced Neemy to rotate over which resulted in a foul. The issue was because of that stupid 94 feet foul, Neemy had 4 fouls and had to come out and sit. From there, Embiid was able to feast offensively on Vuc, which helped bring the Sixers back and give them new life. The Celts had a 170 DRTG with Vuc on the floor in this loss, which ya know, sucks ass. 

And while Neemy's issue in this series has to do more with their offensive spacing, he's still their best rim protector. His not being on the floor defensively is an issue, considering he's their best defensive big. Giving away fouls on stupid plays hurts because it forces the Celts to over-rely on their bad defending bigs in hopes that their shotmaking/offense can make up for it. But when the offense goes cold, and there's no way to get stops on the defensive end? That's how things spiral. 

All of this stuff is connected, and that's why what may seem like a small mental error is actually a big mental error because of what it forces Joe to do with the rotation. 

- As great as Jaylen Brown's season has been, this was probably one of his worst performances of the year. While the turnovers weren't really an issue in this loss, I felt as though the decision making was. To me, this was the Bad Jaylen version, where he's not really looking to pass, is forcing his offense through isolation despite not being able to create the advantage against his defender which forces him to settle for contested jumpers, none of it is conducive to winning basketball.

While there are times the Celts shotmaking around Jaylen can sometimes overcome this approach, that was not the case i Game 5, and the fact that his worst moments came in the biggest quarter of the season was rather problematic. Everything about Jaylen's approach in the 4th quarter was bad. These are bad possessions

Advertisement

And then of course, there was this

We know Jaylen has been good from midrange all season, but I would not consider those good midrange looks. All of them were contested, there were times where it felt like he was only shooting them in an attempt to get the whistle which never came, and given the situation/score/time those empty possessions is ultimately what did the Celtics in. When Tatum isn't on the floor, you have to execute. Last night, they had a 66 ORTG while Tatum sat. That's beyond terrible.

- In my opinion, this game turned from around the 4 minute mark of the 3rd quarter to the end of the game. The Sixers closed the 3rd quarter going 5-7 from the floor with 5 3PM, almost all of which were wide open looks. Up 7 at that point, how you close quarters in the playoffs is everything. By not closing strong not only did the Celts see their lead shrink to 1, they also gave away all momentum entering the 4th while Tatum then had to get his rest. 

3pt defense has been an issue we've talked about in the blog all year, and their lack of execution in that area is why this series is still going on. That final 4 minute stretch to end the 3rd quarter was the game.

The Ugly

- Obviously, the 4th quarter fits this section. Worst 4th quarter of the season, 1-14 from 2pt in the quarter, 14 straight missed shots, zero stops, truly one of the worst displays of basketball an NBA team could possibly have

If we're being honest, their issues were really the entire second half (40 points, 29/28%) but the 4th quarter was the cherry on top of this shit sandwhich performance. This wasn't even a case where the Celts shot themselves out of a game by only taking 3PA. 14 of their 22 FGA were 2s! But you see, you actually have to make shots for this "adjustment" to matter. This is something that always annoys me whenever the Celtics lose. You heard it all last night. People just talk about 3PA volume.

THE CELTICS TOOK JUST 39 3PA IN THIS GAME

Just like in Game 2 against the Knicks, their lack of execution in the 4th quarter from 2pt FGA range was a gigantic issue, but nobody ever talks about it. Everyone just cries about 3P shooting, even when the Celts took LESS THREES than their season average in this game. This idea that if you just stop shooting 3s and do nothing but take 2s and you'll never lose just doesn't make sense, especially when you're missing all your 2s and your opponent is making 15 3PM. No shit that's going to be a game you lose.

In the same way the start of the 1st quarter told us the story of this game, the same is true for the start of the 4th. I believe they started the quarter with 2 or 3 consecutive turnovers while also not getting stops, and from there things snowballed. The crowd got tight, the players got tight, and their process got all out of whack.

- I don't want this to be true, but if Derrick White's performance in this series feels familiar, it's because we just saw it. The more I watch him offensively in this series, the more it reminds me of this

In the exact same way KP's offensive issues killed the Celts in 2025, Derrick's offensive issues are killing the Celts in 2026. I'm not sure if he's also dealing with a mystery illness, but it's essentially the same exact situation. When the #3 option disappears to this degree, it is not sustainable. Everyone understands the ways Derrick can impact a game and impact winning, but this time of year you HAVE TO make shots. Especially open ones in high leverage situations. It's non-negotiable really. Unfortunately, White isn't really giving you the defense to overcome this offensive issue, so I'm not sure what the solution is. You can't just not play him, but having him on the floor is making things harder for you. It's quite the pickle and pretty unfortunate if you ask me. 

So now here we go. For the Celtics to now win the series, they have 2 options:

1. Sweep all 3 games in Phill

2. Win a Game 7

That shit makes me sick to my stomach. Every opportunity in the world to get out of this series quickly and get rest, and now they've opened the door for chaos. You'd think we'd be used to this by now given the hell we've been through during the Jays Era, but nope. Still annoys the fuck out of me.