Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics loss to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, with BSJ insight and analysis.
IN A NUTSHELL
The Celtics were flat-out terrible for about 22 minutes of the first half. They fell behind by as many as 26 thanks to some hot shooting by Miami and the same struggling Celtics story of turnovers and missed shots. They closed the quarter strong to cut the lead to 15, and seemed to catch a break in the third when Jimmy Butler was ruled out for the remainder of the game due to knee soreness. The Celtics cut it to 10, but started turning it over again and got nowhere. They made another late run in the fourth quarter, slowly chipping away and using a Jaylen Brown run to cut it to 1, but they got sloppy again and never got closer.
HEADLINES
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers: The Celtics gave up 33 points off 24 turnovers. Look no further than this for the reason they lost this game. Jaylen Brown had 7, Jayson Tatum had 6. When the turnover count is that outrageous AND your two stars have more than half of them, there's just no chance to win.
Another Jayson Tatum Game 3 stinker: Once again the Celtics were in a Game 3 where they needed Tatum to be simply average, and he couldn't even do that. 10 points on 3-14 shooting (1-7 3pt), 4 assists and those 6 turnovers were all he could muster. He has too many games like this where he can’t even cobble together a few minutes of playing great to rise from the ashes of a horrible performance.
The Bam Adebayo Game: Miami was desperate for their big man to show up in this series, and he dropped a 31-point, 10 rebounds, 6-assist, 4-steal masterpiece.
“He did his version of what Jimmy does in terms of ‘do what's necessary for the game,’” Erik Spoelstra said after the game. “He was just way more assertive on the catch and those moments in between. And it wasn't just the scoring. That's what everybody is going to recognize, but he did so many things in terms of getting us organized, facilitating, playing point guard for us at times, running offense in the post through him, and then defending like he always does one through five against a team that presents a lot of challenges.”
TURNING POINT
Jaylen Brown hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1, but the next possessions went:
Max Struss 3
Boston 24 second shot clock violation turnover
Adebayo jumper
Tatum turnover
Grant Williams take foul.
PJ Tucker 2 free throws.
Boston timeout with Miami back up 8.
SECOND GUESSES
- Starting Daniel Theis for Robert Williams. I get that Ime Udoka wanted Theis to play the Rob roamer role, but Theis is not the guy to have on the floor with Adebayo in the game. He matched Theis up with Dewayne Dedmon in the second half. This is not a Theis series.
- I know the Celtics would never keep Tatum on the bench after his shoulder stinger, but the Celtics made a real run with Tatum off the floor getting that shoulder checked. Maybe, possibly, Udoka could have just told Jayson “hold on for a second here we’re on a good roll” just to see if things kept going the way they were going. Again, that's an unconventional thing to ask, but at that point, they WERE rolling. Why not give it a shot?
ONE UP
Al Horford: 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers. The only player I can point to that didn’t have a bad stretch.
THREE DOWN
Jayson Tatum: For the second straight series, he had a 10-point game on 21-point-something percent shooting. His turnovers were maddening, including straight rips and passes directly to the Heat.
Jaylen Brown: 40 points on 14-20 shooting is a spectacular scoring night, and he had a 5-6 quarter for 14 points in the fourth. But we really can’t overlook that his turnovers and early defensive lapses were a big reason Boston was down as big as they were.
Daniel Theis: Basically a no-show for Theis. The Celtics need Robert Williams back in a big way.
TOP PLAYS
Loved. And. Trusted. pic.twitter.com/BH6b9EQPIc
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 22, 2022
JB 💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/JNLxbyCYYE
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 22, 2022
ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
- This one might haunt the Celtics
I didn’t get the same “oddly confident even in a loss” vibe from Udoka like we have in past games like this. There's a part of me that feels like this one is different than Milwaukee Game 3, even though these series are following an eerily similar path.
This one was there for the Celtics. Everything was pointing to a Celtics win even with the crappy early effort. The Celtics took 16 more free throw attempts. They shot better than Miami. They were nearly even in assists. Boston blocked more shots. Jimmy Butler sat out the second half. Everything in this game was either equal or in Boston’s favor … except …
Miami had 19 steals. Boston had 23 turnovers to Miami’s 8. Boston lost the points off turnover battle by 24.
This was more than a tough loss. There have been tough losses in this run. This one has a real feeling of regret attached to it. I don’t like this one at all.