BSJ Game Report: Heat 130, Celtics 124- Celtics refuse to learn any lessons

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics 130-124 loss to the Miami Heat with BSJ insight and analysis. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

The broken record skips again. This is an analogy for my fellow old folks who know what it’s like to hit a broken part of the record and just have it repeat itself over and over again. The Celtics once again fell behind by as many as 26 points and forged a furious comeback which fell short. 

“When we're not completely engaged, for whatever reason, we're just not good,” Brad Stevens said after the game, stating the obvious. “And so, when we're completely engaged, we're a good basketball team. And when we're not, we're not even close to being able to compete with anybody, let alone a team that might like Miami that's really playing well right now.”

The question is why? Why are they so Jekyll & Hyde? It’s the question no one has been able to answer all season long. 

The Celtics need help for the fifth seed. They need to beat Miami Tuesday to get the tiebreaker and hope Miami loses one of their remaining games while Boston wins out. For now, it looks like 4/5 series is a bit of a longshot. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics had cut the game down to six points with about five minutes to go, but Jimmy Butler hit his first 3-pointer in a month to push it back up to nine. The Celtics and Heat essentially traded baskets from there 

TOP PLAY

https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1391467997269827590

THREE UP 

Evan Fournier: He started slow, just like everyone, but he was a monster in the second half. 23 of his 30 points came in the second half. He is back into an offensive groove. Now Boston just needs to put it all together.

Aaron Nesmith: He is showing himself to be a good basketball player. It has taken time, but things have slowed down a little and it’s going a long way. Nesmith didn’t just hit shots, he attacked and played defense. 

“Aaron has been tremendous off the bench,” Jayson Tatum said.” Shot-making and energy. Doing little things. He's definitely earned the time that he's gotten out there and I'm happy for him because he's worked his butt off all season and didn't get much opportunity early on, you know. Aaron's been a great teammate and showed up to work every day. It's paying off, so, on the bright side of things, someone I'm very happy for, just seeing him continue to grow and make the most out of his opportunities."

Carsen Edwards: He was a bit of a wildcard in this one but he was able to do pretty well in limited time. He only played 9 minutes but the Celtics needed someone to provide a spark and he did alright.

“Carsen's not afraid to get into people on the defensive end,” Stevens said. “He's physical, even though he's small. And I thought he did a good job when he was in.”

ONE DOWN 

Robert Williams: This is entirely because of the injury. He’s only here because he couldn’t play in the second half. 

“Too uncomfortable to keep going,” Stevens said. “It could be game time decisions every day. We may have to sit him. I don't know what the deal is right now. That's obviously something we're gonna have to manage because I think I played Tristan about 15 straight minutes there in the second half. So there's some challenges ahead with that.”

This might be the one injury that unravels the whole thing. The Celtics need him as a ball mover and vertical threat on offense and he’s just not going to be the same. 

THREE SO/SO

I’m adding this new thing to be more accurate with this team. These guys were both good and bad at times.

Jayson Tatum: He was ok in the first half with 13 points on 5-8 shooting, but this was a night where the Celtics needed more and he was just kind of ... there ... until an 11 point fourth quarter where he helped the Celtics close the gap.

Kemba Walker: He had a big fourth as well, and scoring wise he was much more aggressive in the second half. 15 of his 18 points came in the second half when he got to the rim and to the line. Miami picked on him defensively, posting up Trevor Ariza and Butler against Walker every time they got the switch. 

Marcus Smart: He was a key reason why the Celtics were able to keep it even sort of close in the first half when he decided to attack and get to the rim. He even hit a big 3-pointer, a stepback to make it 59-42, but it was then followed by a heat-check 3 with 20 seconds on the shot clock after Boston had come down with a Miami miss. 

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Jayson Tatum is supremely talented, but he needs to find an edge. It’s admirable in many ways that Tatum can seemingly keep an even keel through the ups and downs of a regular season. It’s a very valuable skill in the NBA. 

However, sometimes Tatum’s level-headedness comes off as a bit aloof, or worse. We know there’s a fierce competitor in there, he wouldn’t be this good if there wasn’t, but this team follows his lead. 

“There's a lot more I can do. I can just do better. Especially from the start,” he admitted after the game. “I mean, it's on all of us. But I just know there's a lot more I can do out there.”

Tatum is just stepping into this role, and his first year as the team’s best player and, therefore, leader on the floor, has been full of ups and downs. Some are not his fault, but some are.

This season is swirling down the toilet and, barring some miraculous run, it will end as the worst of Tatum’s short career. It’s a failure that spreads throughout the organization and, not to get all David Griffin on you, the league. 

There’s a slight chance at redemption here, though. It starts with Tatum growing more into this leadership role. Looking across the floor at the Jimmy Butler-led Heat, Tatum should see the qualities that make a player, and team, better than their talent.

“It’s a choice. I don’t think that we’re necessarily good enough to just turn the switch on,” Tatum said. “I know that we can do better, do more, especially in the beginning of the games, just play with a little bit more toughness and play faster. When we get stops in the second half we play fast and play to our advantage, and we look pretty good. So we’ve just got to start like that.”

Tatum has to lead the way. It won’t always go well, but it’ll result in a lot fewer games like this.