Karalis: Celtics finally admit the root of their late-game issues. Now it's time to fix them forever

Charles Barkley asked a question we’ve all asked Jaylen Brown a lot, just in a way that really only Charles Barkley could ask it. 

“You said it. ‘We’re up 10,’ you guys gotta win,” he started. “What the hell -- why did y’all relax when y’all, because y’all done it all playoffs long, and then you got in the hole 0-3 by doing that, what is it about y’all where y’all just don’t say ‘hey man, let’s just kill these dudes and get it over with?’”

Brown has been asked that question plenty, with less edge, and not by a Hall of Famer. Maybe the question not only needed to be framed in the most direct way possible, but by someone who Brown respects as a legend in the game. When I ask him this question, it might come off as talking down to him. When a legend like Barkley asks it, it’s like being scolded by dad.

Whatever it was, we got this answer from him. 

“I guess we just like doing it the hard way, I guess,” Brown said. “I’m not sure why we do it. It seems like when we get in those moments, we get a little bit apprehensive and we kind of, like, get a little bit like we don’t want to be the one to mess up, and it causes you to be the one to mess up. I feel like in those moments we just gotta grow, and in these next couple of games we got -- this next game that we got, we just gotta be better.”

Finally, someone on the team admitted to getting apprehensive in the big moments. There was no mention of getting good looks that didn’t fall. There was no mention of what Miami did. For once, we heard one of Boston’s pillars explain that their poor late-game execution, which nearly ended their season on Saturday night, was a case of giving in to the moment. 

What an important step for the Celtics. 

Admitting the problem is the first step towards fixing it. And amazingly, there's still time to fix it. Right now, it doesn’t matter what problems it has caused and how costly it has almost been. All that matters in this moment is that Boston has a chance to fix it in time to accomplish their goals. 

That's not to dismiss the possibility that this apprehension hasn’t already cost Boston. They lost Game 2 because of it, so this series could have been over by now. The last two rounds each went at least a game too long because of it, too, so we’re right back where we were last season with the Celtics going to a Game 7 in both the Semifinals and the Conference Finals. Denver has been kicking back, recharging their batteries and eating popcorn while the Celtics and Heat powerbomb each other off the top of a cage. 

This Game 7 shouldn’t require a fourth-quarter fortitude check. I’m not sure Miami has anything left in the tank to fight back if Boston can come out and take the game by the throat right away. The Heat locker room was incredibly quiet after Game 6, a far cry from Jimmy Butler’s post-Game 4 declaration that Miami was about to “do the same thing that I do, that we do, after every game. We are going to listen to some music. We're going to drink some beers back there. We are going to go have some wine.”

The silence of Game 6 was an understanding that Erik Spoelstra pulled the plug on Butler and Bam Adebayo early in Game 5 in order to have everything possible to win at home. That they didn’t, and that the game was stolen from them at the end, was very likely a death knell. 

But Game 7s are weird, and Boston has to be ready for the weirdness. Maybe it’s Haywood Highsmith getting 30 minutes and hitting five 3-pointers to keep Miami alive. Maybe Caleb Martin continues his inconceivable superstar turn and makes this a 10-point game with five minutes to go. 

Then what? 

The antidote for apprehension is confidence. Confidence is why Miami damn-near ripped Boston’s heart out at the Kaseya Center because they had no business being up late in that game. Butler was toast but then he found something, somewhere … again … to close the quarter with a dominant run. Miami has all the confidence in the world that being within striking distance at the end of games means they're at least tying things up. 

Boston needs to find that confidence, and it comes with overcoming a fear of failure. Butler missed free throws earlier in the game but he drilled the three that mattered to his team. Miami knows it won’t go perfectly, but it just has to go better than the other team to walk down a lead. 

The Celtics are looking for perfection at the end of games, and perfection is the enemy of good. Good is all Boston needs to be to close games, but by chasing perfection they end up being bad. By being apprehensive, they routinely start possession late in the shot clock, even when Joe Mazzulla has said multiple times that defenses get better as the clock winds down. 

Apprehension is a form of fear, and fear can break people down. No matter how good the Celtics are at basketball, they slow to a crawl and make poor decisions when they start playing with fear. At some point, this group needs to conquer that. 

Now would be a great start. 

If Game 7 comes down to the wire, Brown and the Celtics will have to finally find it within them to run, push the pace, and play their regular style of basketball without fear of a turnover or missed shot. Just play free, have fun and trust in the work and the results. 

Even if it doesn’t and Boston wins easily, they’ll need to figure this out against Denver in the NBA Finals. There will be close games, and Nikola Jokic senses fear like a Doberman. 

Boston is on the verge of making history, but they were also on the verge of blowing it because of this apprehension. This is a young team with a rare opportunity staring them in the face. 

Put the fear aside, and go win.