Everyone’s had a control freak in their life. That neatnik who won’t let you eat in their car. That over-scheduler who color-codes their calendar. That tightwad who takes joy in balancing their checkbook.
The Celtics should draw inspiration from this ball of neuroses ahead of Game 2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hear me out.
Boston had plenty of excuses for dropping Game 1. They were missing two of their most critical role players and emotional leaders, with Al Horford being placed in COVID protocol just hours ahead of tip-off, and Marcus Smart sidelined by a foot sprain. They were just two days removed from a seven-game bout with the league’s reigning champ. They were on the road, in game one, facing a respectable and well rested foe.
But there was no excuse for the carelessness displayed by the Celtics’ stars coming out of halftime. With just five points that came in the final five minutes of the third quarter, Jayson Tatum posted more turnovers (six) than buckets. His right-hand man Jaylen Brown did his part, coughing the ball up twice during the 12-minute disaster, during which the Heat racked up 39 points and never looked back.
“We had eight of our 16 turnovers in that quarter. Played in a crowd on offense. Got sped up,” Ime Udoka said after the 118-107 loss.
Tatum and Brown took possessions for granted. They forced bad passes, sputtered with the ball into traffic, and chucked shots that weren’t there. They came out of halftime like a team who already punched their ticket to the Finals, and were just on the floor as a formality.
The Heat’s physical defense doesn’t give teams a chance to recover from those hiccups. And on the other end of the court, Miami’s Machiavellian forward Jimmy Butler led his team through a crafty 22-2 run.
This is where 24-year-old Tatum can take a page out of 32-year-old Butler’s book. Butler may have a reputation as an emotional rollercoaster, but in the second half of Monday’s game, he was the only All-Star on the court in control.
Butler calculated with the ball in his hands. He drove into the paint with vision, dishing the ball to open players like Max Strus and Gabe Vincent with power and grace. He’s exacted a pump-fake that sent him to the line for 18 free throws in Game 1.
That’s control.
And that’s not to say Butler doesn’t play on feeling or without spontaneity. He took chances jumping Tatum’s passes for picks in the third quarter Monday, but they paid off with two turnovers.
There’s also the element of emotional command. Let’s not take a page out of Butler’s book here. But whether it’s Tatum or Grant Williams, this team still expends too much energy yapping with the referees. They need to get over the frustration that bubbles up when P.J. Tucker throws an elbow into your ribs. That’s playoff basketball, and the Heat will body up on you just the way the Bucks did.
Point guard Marcus Smart’s likely return in Game 2 would balance Boston’s rotation and put the ball back in a more confident handler’s paws. That’s almost sure to boost Boston on both ends of the court.
But if the C’s learn anything from that horrible third quarter, it should be this: there’s no autopilot in the playoffs. They’ll have to stay detail-oriented, or find themselves in a nasty 0-2 hole.