Game 5 was turning into a horror movie where the soon-to-be victim gets the strange phone call and decides to do the most obviously wrong things that have everyone in the theater screaming at the screen.
The Celtics were giving the ball away, giving up offensive rebounds, and letting the Miami Heat feel good about themselves. The Celtics gave up just 42 points at the half, but if they protected the ball and boxed out to avoid the 28 total second-chance points and points off turnovers, Miami literally could have gone into halftime with 14 points.
So they had a little chat during the break.
“(We) talked about how much does it mean to us,” Jayson Tatum said. “We know all the plays and things like that, but saw the 50/50 balls and hustle plays and things like that are about toughness and effort. That's what we talked about, us playing better, taking care of the ball, just competing because we know what's on the line.”
This is where all the mental stuff I’ve been going on and on about comes into play. It’s moments like this where a team has to make a decision about itself; not about counters or schemes, but the inner fortitude to be able to rise above injuries and fatigue.
Boston chose wisely.
Their second-half dominance of the Heat put the Celtics 48 minutes away from one of the most improbable NBA Finals berths we’ve seen. A team that sat in the 11th seed a smidge over five months ago is now on the cusp of playing for a championship, and it’s because the team has spent all that time making better choices about who they were going to be.
On Wednesday night, just like it has throughout 2022 for Boston, it started with some tough love from Ime Udoka.
When asked after the game about the difference he saw in Jaylen Brown’s first and second half performances, Udoka simply said “he didn’t turn the ball over.”
That's true, he didn’t. All four of Brown’s miscues came in the first half, and they were all quite ugly. So Udoka had a conversation with him.
“It's the same thing, the crowd is there, you're acting like you're surprised that they're reaching and poking him from behind,” Udoka said of that talk. “It wasn't as much like live ball turnovers, trying to make a nice pass. It was literally getting taken from us. Be strong with the ball. Five games in now, we're having too many of these type of turnovers, not being strong with the ball in the crowd. He understood that.”
Brown responded by taking advantage of the opportunities in front of him rather than trying too hard to manufacture others. Miami’s active hands have made drives to the hoop impossible for Brown all series long, so in the second half, he switched gears and decided to bomb away from deep.
The Celtics made better decisions across the board, and once they did, they ran away and hid from the Heat. Once again, this series saw a 20-point lead and garbage time, and now Boston is *this* close to something that seemed impossible not too long ago.
They just have to make one more decision.
“Don't look past them. Don't believe what you guys say on TV, that we're going to the championship, because this is far from over,” Jayson Tatum said. “We just went into Milwaukee and won a very big Game 6. So, know that it's possible. Like we came with the mindset tonight that it was a must-win game, that we need to carry that over, go into Friday like we down 3-2 … It's not going to be easy. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a challenge, but it's going to be fun.”
This has to be Boston’s Game 7. It’s one thing to win a closeout game at home like they did against the Bucks, but it’s different doing it on the road. The Heat look broken down and beaten, but they're not going to just roll over, and no one wants to get on any more planes than they have to at this point.
Dig down one more time and win one game at home. That's it.
“This is a great opportunity. Leave everything on the floor. You don't want any feelings of regret,” Brown said. “Let’s come out Friday on our home floor, and play the best version of basketball we played all season. This is a big game for us.
“At the same time, you know, just breathe, relax. Sometimes it can be a little bit too tense. We know how important these moments are. But just come out and play our game and we'll be fine.”
