Karalis: Thoughts from Miami with a season on life support, including the chances of a miracle

MIAMI — Thoughts as I stare off my balcony into the Biscayne Bay...

How did it get to this?

Marcus Smart ripped the ball away from Bam Adebayo, put a shot back up, drew a foul, and sat on the floor screaming in celebration. 

His free throw made it a 12-point game to start the second half. It was an immediate momentum-changing play that set a tone for the rest of the game and sent a message that they were not about to go down easy. 

Hahahaha just kidding, Boston wilted and Miami went on a 13-2 run to take full control of the game. 

How is that possible? How could a team, full of the players on this roster, see Smart’s effort right out of the gates and let it just die on the vine like that? How on earth have the Celtics allowed themselves to fall into this spot? 

Where’s the pride? Where is the thing inside basketball players that make them refuse to quit at all costs? Where’s that feeling in a player that says ‘I’m not going to roll over, you gotta kill me first' when things are going bad? 

It might be the most disappointing part of all of this. 

As much as I hated losing, I could accept it if I gave it my all and the other team was just better. Those are the breaks. 

There's nothing I hate more than giving up, especially at a point where the game was very winnable; after your resident maniac made a maniacal play to start the half. 

This is the lowest point of the season. I don’t understand how it came in the season’s most important game … a Conference Finals game. 

The Celtics are pandas

I said this on my podcast. I’m not sure how my brain jumped to this spot, but I think it sums this team up well.

Fluffy, lazy, and unable to adapt to anything besides the one thing that has given them life. These are your Panda Celtics. 

Hey Panda Express, this is your chance to hop in with a marketing pitch. 

“Panda Express and the Panda Celtics, because you can’t resist high blood pressure and piercing stomach pains.” 

… it’s a work in progress

“I think we're a team that, all year long, has relied on making shots. When we don't make shots, our defense wanes, it slips,” Malcolm Brogdon said. “And that's something we've talked about. It's something we've tried to work on. It’s something we've been extremely aware to, but it's continued to be an issue for us.”

We know. 

Brogdon is not instilling much confidence in me

Here are his answers to some other questions at the team’s brief media session on Monday: 

On taking on the challenge after Miami tried to embarrass you: “I mean, no one else is going to do it if we don’t. So it’s up to us to have some pride, come out, try and make a statement, try to win a game. And then last night, of course, it’s a tough building to play in, but I thought we just didn’t make shots, we didn’t make a lot of shots. And I thought that wore on us mentally. Like it does in a lot of games throughout the season, it wears on our defense.”

I’m getting big Chief Wiggum vibes here. 

On the team’s regression: “I mean, it's definitely concerning. I think we've taken a few steps back, I think, in these playoffs overall. I think it's showing because we're playing a very disciplined, consistent, well-coached team. But I think in the Atlanta series, I think in the Philly series, I think we got away with things that now are biting us. So that's definitely troubling.”

I’m sorry, did you say it’s showing because you’re playing a good team?

“Honestly, we've struggled in every series we played. So, now we're playing a team that's playing as if they're the best team in the league, and they're just incredibly disciplined, incredibly consistent. And I think we've struggled with teams that are consistent on a possession-by-possession basis every night.”

A lot of this is blunt truth. But the fact that it’s blunt truth today, in late May, still, might be the most discouraging part of all of this. 

All that said, if there's any situation for a 3-0 comeback, this is the one 

Please understand that I’m not predicting this. My brain is simply programmed to not quit so as long as there's a sliver of an opening, I’m looking whether that sliver can be broken open. 

Here’s what we have: 

• A second seed with wickedly underperforming stars that is overly dependent on 3-point shooting
• An eighth seed with wildly over-performing players shooting the lights out. 

If … and again, it’s a gigantic, improbable, extraordinarily unlikely, almost definitely not happening ‘IF’ … but if the Celtic can step up their defense and get Miami to miss some shots … and if the Celtics can start hitting some shots at a normal rate … 

Then the Celtics can win Game 4. If they go back home and win Game 5, then there will be pressure on Miami to win in 6 because no one wants to face the home team in a Game 7 at home with all that momentum. 

There's a reason why this hasn’t happened. But also, the reason is generally that the team up 3-0 is the higher seed against lesser competition. 

Boston is the higher seed, they're not missing anyone to injury, and they have been underperforming in a great many ways. This is not your typical 3-0 lead. 

Again, I’m not saying it will happen. I’m not saying to expect much. But also everything I said is true. 

I’m not sure where they go from here

I’ll save the bulk of this for the offseason because the new CBA complicates things a lot, but all the wholesale changes people are asking for are just not really possible. 

Yeah, they might change the coach, but man that puts a ton of pressure on Brad Stevens to nail the next hire. If they move on from Joe Mazzulla, it would have to be for an absolute slam-dunk candidate. 

Personally, I think the Celtics messed up by not adding more experience to the bench. They didn’t add anyone when Mazzulla was hired and then they lost Damon Stoudemire, which really hurt them. The Celtics have no real NBA experience on their bench and it’s hurting them tremendously. 

They might have felt good about Stoudemire being that guy. Not having more help on the staff was a misfire.