Something has to give

What a difference a week makes. On Monday morning, sports radio was just getting revved up. As the midday shows - and especially the afternoon shows - came around, it was the Celtics' players, led by Jayson Tatum, being made to walk the plank by their hometown media and fans.

PTSD had set in. This was the Bruins all over again. This can’t be happening. This team sucks. Joe Mazzulla is the worst coach in the history of the NBA. Tatum is overrated. Jaylen Brown is a bum. Al Horford is washed up. Marcus Smart has to go.

This was the morning after the Celtics were embarrassed in Miami by the Heat, 128-102. As they say, the game was not even as close as that score might indicate. The Celtics had quit. Mazzulla was blaming himself, postgame, for the team being unprepared and uninspired. In the spirit of the late 1970s Red Sox, the players seemed to be heading off in different directions making plans for their early vacations. It was said about those Red Sox teams that the team chemistry was so bad that they had 25 taxis for 25 players after the games. Adjusting for modern times, these Celtics probably have 9 Uber drivers and 3 Escalades waiting for them after the game.

The obituary was already being written on the season. This was going to go down as one of the biggest choke jobs ever. If you hadn’t heard, this Miami Heat team consists of several undrafted players. The Celtics, on the other hand, had a starting lineup consisting of mostly lottery picks. The Heat barely snuck into the playoffs. The Celtics came within two games of winning the NBA title last year.

But, somehow, the Celtics lost the first three games of this series. With their backs against the wall, the Celtics decided to play some defense and play with a little heart and pride. They bounced back to win the next two games easily by double-digits. Now, all those naysayers who were ready to blow up the team five days ago are pulling people off, trying to get back on the bandwagon. The Celtics are still down three games to two, and they are headed to Miami for Game 6, but to hear the local and national media, you would think the Celtics have already become the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

They may very well do it, but they don’t deserve credit and adulation if they do. This isn’t the 2004 Red Sox coming back against the New York Yankees of Jeter, A-Rod, Rivera, Pettitte, and Mussina. This Celtics team didn’t have to overcome an 86-year jinx.

It will come as no surprise to anyone if the Celtics win four straight against the Heat. The surprise is that the Heat won three straight against the Celtics to start the series. The Celtics deserve more blame for losing those three straight, than they do credit if they win four in a row.

An already far less talented Heat team has been without two of their better players in Tyler Hero and Victor Oladipo all series, and they were without their starting point guard, Gabe Vincent, in Game 5. Woohoo! The Celtics kicked their ass! That is like a high school varsity basketball team beating their chests after crushing the JV team.

The Celtics put themselves in a predicament where they now have no margin for error. No more hiccups. No more mental breakdowns. No more in-fighting. No more missed free throws. No more turnovers. No more hero basketball. Can they do that? Color me still skeptical, and I certainly won’t be prancing around if they win.

In order to win these last two games, along with accomplishing all those things listed above, Tatum needs to come out and score 30+ points. He will need to score more than zero field goals in the final quarter. Jaylen Brown, who you have to believe is battling some kind of hand/arm/elbow injury, has to contribute 20+ points and act like he isn’t skating on ice when he penetrates to the rim. Al Horford has to be able to sink a couple of open three-pointers. One of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon (who is battling an elbow injury), and Grant Williams needs to step up with a 20-point, five three-pointer type of game. Smart had 23 points and White had 24 in their Game 5 blowout, while Grant Williams contributed four big three-pointers in Game 4. Brown will need to do some meditation or whatever it takes prior to shooting critical free throws down the stretch so he isn’t barely catching the front rim.

The Celtics need all those things to happen to win plus the two most important things in my book. First is defense. The key to the last two victories has been the Celtics increased intensity on the defensive end. Blocks and steals have triggered the Celtics’ offense giving them numbers coming down the court which has led to wide open looks on three-pointers or electrifying open court dunks. That just causes a chain reaction - great defense leads to made buckets leads to more enthusiastic defense.

That is what fuels this team. This team is mentally weak. They need positive reinforcement. It seems obvious to say, but if they make buckets, they play better on both ends of the court. Once they struggle offensively, their shoulders start slouching and they start blaming the refs.

There is an old saying that defense never slumps.

Which leads me to my biggest concern which is the mental aspect. There is no doubt the Celtics are far superior, athletically. These games can go either one of two ways - either the Celtics start hot and get out to a big lead and become complacent, or they miss some shots early, fall behind, and, gulp, quit. We’ve seen it happen. The coaches and players come out after the game making all these excuses about letting go of the rope. There can be no excuses this time. There can be no more letting go of the rope.

My prediction is that the Celtics will jump out to a 15-point or more lead in one of these last two games, and the Heat will make a comeback - led by not Jimmy Butler, but someone unlikely like Duncan Robinson or Caleb Martin. Tatum will go ice cold in the fourth quarter and Marcus Smart will throw up some ill-advised fourth quarter threes trying to be a hero. Jaylen Brown will disappear in the final period because he will be frozen out by his teammates. There will be a couple of turnovers in the paint (I am looking at you, Malcolm Brogdan). And it wouldn’t surprise me to see Smart, Tatum, or Mazzulla get a dumb technical foul at the end.

There is a reason teams have been 0-150 when down three games to none. There is zero margin for error. But I think it is safe to say that out of those 150 teams, no team has ever been more talented when trailing as the Celtics are compared to the Heat. But there is also a reason that this Celtics team allowed themselves to be down 3-0.