The Boston Celtics might not blow many 22-point fourth-quarter leads, however Tuesday’s collapse towards the Cleveland Cavaliers felt uncomfortably acquainted. The Celtics have developed a little bit of a status as frontrunners over the previous few years. They’re regular-season world-beaters who can run anybody out of the health club when the photographs are falling, however after they get punched within the mouth or must execute late in video games, they appear distressingly mortal.
Is that status solely honest? No, not essentially. Even after Tuesday’s catastrophe in Cleveland, the Celtics had an 18-9 clutch report with a +20 internet ranking in such conditions. They made the Finals two years in the past.Â
Objectively, Boston is kind of good in massive video games. The attention-test has by no means fairly matched these numbers. The Celtics by no means actually look snug late in massive video games. There are nonetheless too many Jaylen Brown decision-making mishaps. Jayson Tatum nonetheless settles for too many contested jumpers.
The results of Thursday’s attainable Finals preview towards the Denver Nuggets is not going to dissuade anybody. Denver received, and did so in probably the most narratively-frustrating style Boston may have requested for. The story popping out of this Nuggets victory goes to be the plain late-game brilliance of Nikola Jokic. That is legitimate, however that does not precisely imply Boston ought to undergo against this. The Celtics trailed by double-digits with 4:43 remaining. Tatum had a shot to take the lead lower than 4 minutes later.
What went proper for Boston down the stretch largely boiled all the way down to strikes Boston made with these precise conditions in thoughts. Brad Stevens traded for Kristaps Porzingis to function an outlet within the form of messy, late-game possessions through which Boston so typically struggled. There is no constant protection towards a 7-foot-2 shooter. Positive sufficient, his taking pictures proved important to Boston’s fourth-quarter offense.
Jrue Vacation was a extra opportunistic addition, however one with apparent attraction. The back-to-back 3’s he hit with lower than two minutes remaining converse to his big-game expertise, however two of his subtler factors had been extra indicative of what he actually brings to the Celtics on offense.Â
With a bit lower than 4 minutes remaining, a fast pretend from behind the 3-point line shifted Jokic out of place barely on protection. Vacation took benefit by driving to the rim and utilizing his power and low middle of gravity to not solely preserve his advantageous lane but in addition to discourage Jokic from severely contesting him. When he does finally go up for the layup, he will get two of his best factors of the evening. “Straightforward” and “factors” aren’t phrases Boston continuously will get to make use of in these conditions.
The shot Tatum missed with 45 seconds remaining could possibly be described as “straightforward.” Transition chaos granted him a wide-open nook 3-pointer. Tatum has made 46.2% of his wide-open 3-pointers this season, successfully a coin flip. With a bit extra luck, that shot falls and the narrative surrounding this sport modifications solely. As an alternative, Brown’s 41 factors will largely go forgotten.
But when Boston goes to get dinged for the aesthetics of their late-game struggles, they deserve credit score when issues look higher even in losses. The Celtics that exist within the darker corners of “NBA Twitter” in all probability aren’t coming one shot away from sinking the defending champions 4 minutes after trailing by 11. That form of struggle might not have gotten them a victory on Thursday, but it surely was maybe probably the most encouraging sign Celtics followers may have requested for in what might have been a preview of the 2024 Finals. The Celtics may have folded towards the most effective clutch staff within the NBA. As an alternative they pushed the defending champs to the brink. Their new gamers supplied proof of idea within the course of.Â
If Tuesday’s disappointment in Cleveland was proof that these are the identical previous Celtics, Thursday’s near-miss in Denver was one thing nearer to the norm. The Celtics have been an awesome clutch staff all season. For as soon as, on Thursday, the eye-test managed to again that up, and if the Celtics do meet the Nuggets once more in June, they’ll enter that sequence understanding that they’ve held their very own towards the league’s resident crunch-time king.
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