"I don't know where to start," Celtics star Jaylen Brown said with a drooping face, "It's a clear disappointment, we let the team and our fans down. We can point to culprits, but in reality it's just embarrassing."
Brown made those comments after the Miami Heat dismantled Boston by 26 points in Game <>. This game started well for the Celtics, who were able to gain the advantage, stopping Jimmy Butler by bringing help every time he got the ball. But then something went wrong, a Brown triple went out and Caleb Martin scored a three on the other end and from here it looked like all was lost.
The body language changed, and with each Miami basket, the head went down a little more. The Heat ran away in the third quarter to their biggest lead of all season until the final whistle.
"We can point fingers, but in reality, it's just embarrassing."
Jaylen Brown on the Game 3 loss to the Heat pic.twitter.com/My9r8vsF8n
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 22, 2023
On the face of it, that's not how the series was supposed to look. Boston is a team with a historical heritage, its stars were selected with high draft picks, its players have been running together for several seasons and their basketball has generally been the best in the league. Last season they reached the final, and it looked like experience would speak to them this season and give them a significant advantage. ESPN's experts also gave them 97% to win the series, but actions alone and results separately.
This season started for Boston like an arrow shot from a bow aimed at a target. Jayson Tatum and Brown connected and stepped up, Al Horford and Derrick White completed the quintet superbly, and Marcus Smart was also significant, but midway through the season something started to veer.
There was a feeling that the management had made a mistake by giving Joe Mazzulla the keys but even when there were difficulties the team knew how to give answers and get along, they finished the season in second place with the bookmakers giving them a great chance of reaching the final and winning the title.
Mazola. Maybe he's the problem, Photo: EPA
The arrow shot at the beginning of the season got hit on the wing in the playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks were able to find a weak point, the Philadelphia Sixers were able to take that weak point and increase it, until Game 7 when they collapsed in the second half. The Celtics' problems were exposed, but fans and management wanted to see the Band-Aid Tatum put on in Game 7, and unfortunately for them in the Eastern Conference Finals, Miami was waiting for them, which knows how to exploit weaknesses in the best possible way.
Former Boston NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal criticized the team, saying it played like it deserved to win before they even started playing while Miami played for its life. "This loss on me, I didn't prepare the team properly," the Celtics coach said, "I should have prepared them better on the mental side, I should have put them together."
Tonight we expected something different from Boston, a team with its back against the wall must play differently, with will and passion but the Celtics' leaf harps against the fire and will of the Miami Heat. A team has never been able to come back from falling behind 3-0, and this series seems to be heading in that direction as well. It looks like this season is over for Boston, and they'll have to think carefully about how to avoid it in the future. A lot of teams in history came to the well but couldn't drink from it, will Boston be able to change course?
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Boston's bench in shock, Photo: AP
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