Cleveland — Despite appearing to be among the NBA’s greatest teams this year, the Celtics are unable to break some of their negative past practices. The team’s 11-game winning streak came to an abrupt end on Tuesday night as they lost 105-104, giving up a 22-point lead in the last nine minutes of play to an undermanned Cavaliers team that was missing three players. There will be many of things to criticize from Boston’s 32-6 rally in the fourth quarter, which came after the club appeared to be winning 12 games in a row. But the conclusion raises new doubts about long-standing worries about this team in crucial situations.
With 19.1 seconds remaining in regulation, Dean Wade’s putback slam gave Cleveland a 105-104 lead. Boston next got the ball down one. Jayson Tatum did not try a shot until there were 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation time after that. He hung onto the ball for the following 18 seconds. After the reversal resulted in a jump ball at midcourt with no time remaining on the clock, the Cavs ultimately challenged a foul call on Darius Garland, thereby winning the game.
The sequence represented another instance under Joe Mazzulla in which Boston has restricted its chances to overturn a deficit with a significant amount of regulation remaining.
We need to move more quickly there, Mazzulla stated. “I believed that D-White secured the matchup that we desired.” All we need to do is pick up the pace a bit. In such scenario, you attempt to acquire a few additional items. We simply need to start the game quicker, move more quickly, and attempt to prolong it.
Mazzulla’s acknowledgement is a positive step, but there are still many problems that need to be resolved because Boston’s negative behaviors have returned in a number of ways.
Joe Mazzulla and the question of the timeout
Although this is a long-standing argument, it is nevertheless worthwhile to discuss in this particular case. Mazzulla is perfectly within his rights to let them play, but if he isn’t seeing the squad perform, he ought to discontinue that plan. With 19 seconds remaining, Jayson Tatum inbounded the ball and then squandered half of the time by walking the ball up the floor. He needs to either tell his squad to pick up the pace or simply call a timeout as soon as he notices that. Being a helpless spectator on the sidelines is notexcellent choice there, especially considering that Boston, according to Second Spectrum, has the greatest scoring rate in the NBA during timeouts this season.
Mazzulla claimed that although he attempted to call a timeout with 4.6 seconds left, it wasn’t always a good idea. Five seconds is a lot less time than ten or fifteen seconds to stop an inbounds play. Tatum had Garland on him for an isolation sequence at that moment in the play, but it was clear the Cavs were trying to help Garland, which was to be expected as Boston was trying to take advantage by cutting Tatum or using him as a scapegoat. The All-Star had to settle for a disputed, low-percentage shot instead.
Jayson Tatum and awareness of the clock
Tatum is a player with an extremely high IQ. Being one of the top passers on the Boston squad, he makes the right play and has good reading comprehension. That being said, there are still concerns regarding his awareness of specific late-game events, especially when down.
It’s an equation in math. You want to have as many opportunities as you can to make up ground if you are behind in a late-game position. In a tie game, holding for one shot makes perfect sense. When you trail, there is no room for error in your endeavor.
Despite this widespread excellence, Tatum committed this error three times in the previous two seasons, including Tuesday’s defeat. Boston has dropped each of those three.
games (Knicks from March, 76ers during the playoffs, Tuesday night in Cleveland).
Tatum remarked, “You know, I know how much time is on the clock, but maybe I should have gone a little faster just in case some s*** like that happened.” “Perhaps we have more time, or perhaps there will be another chance.”
It’s the same remark he received a few times in the previous year, but clearly nothing has changed on the court. Mazzulla now has the responsibility to alter these trailing sequences in some way. In these situations, he needs to be more accountable to Tatum or to himself. Have someone other than Tatum start these routines, or have a quick trigger during a timeout. There are many ball handlers in Boston that can play quickly in these situations. Instead of accepting declining returns with Tatum’s decision-making in these areas, it’s time for them to start employing them.
