That's the last time I believe in this team.
Jayson Tatum sat there in front of reporters after the Celtics took a 3-1 series lead over Atlanta and rattled off a quote that I bought hook, line, and sinker. It was full of admissions of mistakes and promises of lessons learned.
“There were a few times last year where we kind of relaxed,” he began. “I would say after we beat Milwaukee in Game 4, we relaxed, came back, and lost Game 5, we were up 13 in the fourth and that came back to bite us, right? We had to go win two in a row. Winning Game 5 in Miami last year, coming back and relaxing a little bit, instead of feeling like our backs were against the wall. Lost, had to go win Game 7.
“So trying not to make it tougher on ourselves, not relaxing. Damn near go in there with the mindset that we down 3-1 and we gotta win than thinking that it's over and they gonna give up. Because they're a really well-coached team, they got great players, and they got a lot of pride. So go in there with the mindset that we gotta win it to survive. And just be aware of learning from our mistakes of last year that kind of made the road a little tougher for us, and I think we’ll be ready.”
It was honest and refreshing. I thought the way Boston had been playing that maybe they had turned the corner. Boston is very good and they have a good attitude. The Hawks are potent but awful defensively, and they have poor attitudes. This was a blowout waiting to happen.
We’re still waiting.
“I think that we had some bonehead plays, some fouls, and gave them some opportunities to get going,” Jaylen Brown said after the Game 5 loss. “We’ve just got to finish the game. Our mindset for whatever reason, we missed some shots but we just let the game get away from us a little bit. And they just hit shot after shot down the line. You give a team life, you leave it to chance. And that’s what we did tonight.”
What they really did was embarrass themselves, again, and prove they've learned absolutely nothing from the past. When given the choice between coasting and taking it easy or closing strong, they almost always choose the former. When given the choice between isolating and going for dagger 3-pointers versus attacking and adding to what ultimately was 60 points in the paint, they almost always fire away.
Tatum sidestepped the question about following up his big, flowery quote with a stinker of a game and a sloppy finish much like he loves to side-step his 3-pointers, but there's no denying that all he and his teammates have proven is that they can’t resist the path of least resistance.
And frankly, I should probably be as embarrassed as them because I bought into it all. I honestly thought they turned a corner, especially with that Game 4 win in Atlanta. I thought they were finally showing poise under pressure, and that all the negativity that exists online was just because the internet brings out the worst in people.
The Celtics are the same as they ever were, fully capable of bulldozing their way to a championship but never understanding how to operate the heavy machinery. At their best, they are absolutely the best team in the NBA, but they just love to save their best only for when their backs are against the wall.
I’ve said it a million times about this Celtics team and it has been proven to be true so often I have to tattoo it backwards on my forehead so I’m reminded of it every time I look in the mirror: The Celtics are great at handling adversity, but they are the worst at handling prosperity.
If they were broke, the Celtics would work three jobs, get four hours of sleep, and drive Uber as a side hustle as they went from job to job. And once they got enough money to buy a house, they’d take it all to Mohegan Sun and bet it on green at the roulette table, then start the whole process over again.
They never learn from it. All they know is they can make money whenever they want, so losing it all doesn’t matter.
It didn't matter that Trae Young had 38 and 13 assists. It didn’t matter that John Collins finally woke up and played well. All the Celtics needed to do over the last five minutes is make baskets against an awful defense and they could only muster a couple. All they had to do over the last five minutes was not get outscored by 12 points. They just needed to trade baskets with the Hawks to get the win.
They couldn't even muster that much.
“Definitely a lot of emotion. Up 12 I don’t know how many minutes left in the fourth. Smoked the game,” Brown said “But our mindset and mentality is to get ready for the next one. We’ve been in situations like this before. It’s unfortunate, but you can run and point fingers or you can take ownership of the situation. We’ve got two chances to win one, so come out and ready for the next game.”
They could win the next game by 40 and then turn to us and say “See?” with proud smiles on their faces, but they’d be wrong to do so because they cost themselves a lot with this loss. They made their own road tougher than it had to be … again … because they are incapable of handling the success they’ve earned.
Nothing has changed from last year besides some of the supporting personnel and the head coach. There have been no lessons learned. I was wrong to think that after Game 4.
I’m not falling for the banana in the tailpipe again. They might not be able to learn from their mistakes but I can. The worst place this team can be is comfortably in the lead, and no one should trust them to handle that again until they prove otherwise.