The game was chugging along, with Boston up somewhere in the 10-point range for a while, when Jaylen Brown and Duncan Robinson got mixed up in the worst Greek folk dance of all time. Just like when I messed up the steps when my Dad was trying to teach me as a kid, things got heated in a hurry.
“It was unnecessary, and excessive, and dangerous,” Robinson said after the game. “I just thought it was a dirty play, to be honest with you. That’s how people miss entire seasons.”
The extended review did nothing to calm anyone down. Robinson and Brown went face-to-face again, with Brown mouthing, “what are you going to do about it?” during the altercation. The tension doubled. The crowd’s volume tripled. The intensity quadrupled.
“I love it. I love it,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “I think we have to take those emotional moments in a good way. Like, make us fired up, but controlled. We have to stay controlled. Because that's their game. They need us to react to something … we don’t have to react back. They have to do that to mix up the game, make something happen.”
For all their success, the Celtics are still learning. They're clearly the smartest kids in class, but the second semester just started, so they have plenty to still absorb as they try win their first championship in 16 seasons.
“We should play right now, again,” Joe Mazzulla said after the win. “I enjoy watching physicality with poise and I thought our guys had that throughout tonight. You obviously need to rise to the occasion. … We said at halftime, we said before the game, expect it to be hard. Expect for it to be difficult. Don’t wish for it to be anything other than what it is, and you respond accordingly. I thought our guys’ physicality and poise was great throughout the game, even when it was going our way because that's going to happen.”
That line from Mazzulla, “Don’t wish for it to be anything other than what it is,” is ultimately where the Celtics need to be. They're not there yet, but they're getting there. For all the consternation about tougher-than-expected games, there is opportunity in them to get the Celtics closer to the finish line.
Mazzulla was excited for the “reps. Reps of how it's going to be. Reps how it should be. And I thought we owned our space, got to our spots, got to our spacing. A couple of late game offensive rebounds that gave us a second chance. And each game presents a theme, something that we need to learn. And I thought we learned that our offensive execution, setting the table before you eat, and late-game. I thought our offensive spacing, I thought our physicality, I thought all those things were great most of the game.”
The Heat have grown into true rivals for this generation of Celtics. These games are exempt from the “doldrums” portion of the schedule. Both teams, regardless of the situation, are going to be amped for each other. That's going to lead to the chippy play, hacks that hit a little too hard, and tempers that run hot. This is what April, May, and June are going to be like. They need to find the joy in these games now so they can be ready for them later.
“Today was fun,” Jayson Tatum said. “We got a lot of history with this team. … You enjoy being a part of games like that. It brings the competitive nature out of everybody.”
Competitive nature is one thing. The Celtics maximizing that under the pressure of an angry Miami mob is another. Finding the composure to make the one or two plays necessary to win a game when the momentum is going against them is part of the championship learning curve. When the other team finds another gear and things start falling apart, can you be the team that does just enough to hold them off?
It’s not always about perfection. It’s not always about slamming the door. It’s about embracing the moment and thriving in whatever moment that is. Don’t wish for a situation. Don’t wonder why it’s not what you thought it would be.
The Celtics lived in that moment in Miami. They did those two or three things they needed to do, and they left with a road win. It’s the exact kind of playoff game they’ll need to win to become champions.
“We all knew going into this game … they're gonna remember the last game what happened and they're going to come out with a game plan, and they want to beat us as much as we want to beat them,” Porzingis said. “It was gonna be a fight, especially a big game on national TV, and it was. It was a war. It was fun, and most importantly, we came up with a win and proved who we are.”