PHILADELPHIA – The plot of "Space Jam" doesn’t do Thursday night justice. Even if the Monstars had sucked all the talent out of the Boston's basketball team, the Celtics still should have been able to rely on the game plans and tactics that had powered them to a 56-win regular season and a 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers. Based on the way Game 6 unfolded, the Monstars took that, too.
But that's not what happened.
Boston’s talent didn’t go anywhere. Jayson Tatum was still on the court. Capable as ever. The same can be said for Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and Derrick White -- whose three threes marked a series-high.
They had all of their talent. Space Jam isn’t real. The Monstars aren’t real. This year’s Celtics aren’t living in a movie.
On Thursday night in Philadelphia, the Celtics’ meltdown was straightforward: They abandoned all of the principles that have led them to this point.
“They outplayed us tonight,” Pritchard said after Philadelphia's 106-93 victory in Game 6.
The Celtics walked into the season with doubters galore. A whole national media full of people projecting them as a play-in team, or worse. The term "gap year" was coined. And in a sense, that’s what it was predicted to be.
What occurred was the exact opposite. A coaching masterpiece that could hand Joe Mazzulla the Coach of the Year Award. A season full of storylines built for a TV show. Neemias Queta’s rise. Brown’s MVP season. Tatum’s return after an Achilles rupture. The emergence of guys like Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, and Hugo Gonzalez.
Boston employed new defensive tactics that focused on defending the rim. A new, more chaotic style of offense that emphasized off-ball movements. Fewer live-ball turnovers. More offensive rebounding. Constantly playing hard.
It was that group of key principles that made this Celtics group who they are.
Or, perhaps after Game 6, who they used to be.
© Bill Streicher
Jaylen Brown and Kelly Oubre Jr.
The Celtics still played hard. They hustled. They tried. They just kicked all of their core tenets to the curb when it mattered most.
“Our intentions are good,” Tatum said postgame. “We want to go out there