Somewhere around quarter past 10 p.m., as we waited for Jayson Tatum to take his turn at the podium, alarms rang through TD Garden notifying everyone of an emergency.
That emergency had nothing to do with Boston unexpectedly being down 0-2 to a Knicks team they dominated all season long, which ultimately turned out to be the more serious issue in the building Wednesday night.
“They made every play,” Joe Mazzulla said after the Game 2 loss. “I thought we generated some good looks, and then I thought we had some live ball turnovers, and they took advantage of it. They made the necessary plays to win. We put ourselves in position to do that, and we just didn’t make the plays.”
It really is as simple as that. For the second straight game, the Celtics had a 20-point lead and opportunities in the fourth quarter to escape from under the weight of their own folly. But for the second straight game, they failed to put up even a mediocre fourth quarter, which would have been good enough to win twice. Fans left the arena with the same faces new parents make when their babies’ sensitive gastrointestinal system tests the tensile strength of cheap diapers.
“I don't have the answer, honestly,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We could've probably shot the ball better, did this better then we pull away even more. But they hung around and similar result. It sucks really bad right now. But we got a lot of basketball to be played and let's see where this goes."
The Celtics had a historically great road record this season, and they haven't lost three games in a row in nearly two full years when they fell behind 3-0 to Miami in the 2023 Conference Finals.
That can be both encouraging and discouraging, depending on how you process it. This team has gone two full seasons and one championship playoff run without dropping three straight, so that bodes well for them. However, the last time they did was in a series very much like this one.
“It's definitely a tough situation,” Porzingis said. “I've been in this situation on both sides. There's a lot of basketball still to be played. And the momentum can change. Nobody feels sorry for us. We have to go out there and take it each game."
Those are great words to say, but through two games of this series, they are impossible words to believe. The Celtics have shown almost none of the characteristics that define a champion in this series. After we applauded their ability to win the Orlando series in a different way, the Celtics appear to be getting the bends trying to get back to their normal selves.
“I thought we got like four or five great looks in a row that didn't go in,” Jaylen Brown said of the team’s fourth quarter performance. “Maybe that affected us, but what's done is done. Now we got an opportunity to see what we're made of and come out and try to make something happen in Game 3.”
Brown is right about one thing. We are going to see what they're made of on Saturday. For all the talk about timeouts and shot selection, Games 1 and 2 came down to one simple thing: New York made plays, Boston didn’t. The Knicks had enough poise to make plays at the end while Boston needed some Dude Wipes, a mop, and a change of shorts. One team on the floor looked like it had been through all the battles and the other looked like a deer in headlights.
This is where champions show their mettle. This is where a Finals MVP and a perennial First-Team All-NBA player show why they are those things and why they are paid what they're paid. In a world of complicated plays and nuanced reads, the simplest thing to expect is that the better players make more plays.
Brown didn’t score in the fourth. Tatum had four points and just one made field goal. I don’t care what defense the Knicks were playing, one of those guys has to use his considerable talent to get something to fall somehow.
Everyone knows what the other guy is trying to accomplish come playoff time. There are a few real surprises. The further along a series goes, the more it must relies on talent to shine through. Boston has more than enough.
The Celtics have two days off to look in the mirror and figure out who they really are. Are they going stumble out of the playoffs early and fall into a pile of statistics and “I told you they got lucky last year” comments? Or are they going to act like the veterans they are, the champions they are, and make a damn play?
“We’ve got a great group that has stayed together through it all,” Brown said. “We need to show our resiliency, we need to show our mental toughness because we can get back in this thing no question. Obviously being down 0-2 sucks but we’ve got a great room and if I had to select any guys to get it done it’s the group that we have in our locker room.
“We’ve just gotta come out a little bit more poised, take a deep breath, convert our opportunities. We missed layups, easy baskets. And take advantage. Two games we were up 20 points and somehow we come out not with wins. It’s inexcusable. But we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to respond.”
They’d better.