The Celtics spent the last half hour of their Thursday practice, the part the media is allowed to watch, mostly goofing around and getting some shots up. With dozens of reporters and cameras streaming into the TD Garden’s lower bowl, the Celtics had a relaxed air about them. Only the setting let on that this was something different than any other practice.
Boston’s season, now more than eight months old, can be boiled down to 96 yet-to-be-played minutes. If the Celtics can outplay the Warriors for enough of those, they can start preparing for the only time anyone ever wants to spend hours stuck driving five miles per hour through the city.
The first 48 of those minutes will be played on their home court. That should be an advantage, though it hasn’t quite been one this season.
“We have to be able to have that focus to really focus in on the game, understand that just because we're at home doesn't mean anything,” Al Horford said. “I feel like in the past we felt like, ‘Oh, we're home, we'll be fine,’ type thing. Our focus level needs to be very high in understanding that it's going to be a hard game.”
That level of focus hasn’t been Boston’s forte. They have been spectacular counter punchers in these playoffs, but after the opening round sweep of Brooklyn, they have lacked the appropriate follow up shots to knock a team out until they, too, were on the verge of elimination. Desperation has been a powerful motivator for the Celtics.
“To see us come out very purposeful and deliver it last night on how we were trying to attack them, getting to our spacing quicker and playing with pace quicker so they have to guard longer in the shot clock, those things all stand out,” Ime Udoka said of his team’s big Game 3. “I think it was one of our best games overall as far as that, attacking the areas we really wanted to. Mixing in on ball, off ball and some of the things Golden State is going to do to try to take advantage of that. Have to do it again now.”
The Celtics have been able to win two straight games in every one of their playoff series, something their opponents can’t say. They're up 2-1, so they can trade wins with the Warriors and still finish on top. But no one wants to test Steph Curry and Klay Thompson at home in a Game 7. If Boston is going to stack a couple of wins together, now is the time to do it.
“The main thing with us is, as I mentioned, having a carryover from game to game and do the things that make us successful,” Udoka said.
What makes Boston successful is the little things. As much as they need Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to be their big-time scorers, Boston’s best came at the beginning of the game where they were also distributors. The Celtics weren’t passing as an afterthought, they were spraying the ball around early in possessions and scoring a lot because of it.
“Spacing is the key. We get the floor nice and spaced, you can see everything a lot easier,” said Brown, who had five assists on the night, three of which came during his monster first quarter. “A lot of times during the year we'll get on top of each other, and we'll drive. There's no outlets. That's when you start to see a lot of the turnovers. A lot of the time it's our spacing.”
Preventing turnovers prevented transition baskets. The Warriors thrive on running and ripping mismatches and cross-matches to shreds. They love living in an opponent’s confusion, so the Celtics making shots and protecting the ball allowed them to sit back in a set defense and dare the Warriors to beat them in the half court. That's just not their comfort zone.
Of course, no game is perfect, and it doesn’t have to be. Right now, it just has to be good enough; 48 minutes of good enough will get the job done. Boston’s problem is that they just haven't been good enough after wins.
Wherever they need to find the energy to build an early lead, they need to find it tomorrow night. However the Celtics need to figure out how to start the game strong, they need to figure it out tomorrow night. Whatever buttons Udoka needs to press that turns the talk into action, he needs to press them tomorrow night.
“You understand that is a huge game,” Derrick White said. “Every game is important, and we understand we can't give away games and stuff like that, so everybody is focused, got the right mindset, and it's time to go show it tomorrow.”