Recap: blah blah blah Celtics lose… time for the Super Bowl

36 minutes of this game were pretty f’ing terrible for the Celtics. Actually, this game was pretty impossible to watch from just about any perspective unless you happened to forget this was a 1pm start time and you tuned in for the second half. Then you at least saw the one good quarter the Celtics gave us today. And without Tayshaun Prince, who apparently was nursing a hip-flexor injury, the Celtics never quite found the stability he’s been providing. The Celtics had plenty of chances to beat a weak Miami team that was without Dwyane Wade and with a struggling Chris Bosh… but they just really couldn’t find the basket for most of the game. The 83-75 final tells you how ugly this game really was.

The Celtics didn’t exactly get out of the box quickly on this Sunday afternoon. The Heat, powered by Hassan Whiteside, came out with an 8-2 run, and they maintained that 6 point edge through most of the first quarter.  It’s not that the Celtics didn’t have chances, it’s just that they struggled to break 20% shooting for the quarter (they shot 22.7%). A late corner 3 by Chris Andersen of all people pushed the Miami lead to 10 at the end of 1.

It stayed that way for a few minutes to start the 2nd, but the Celtics put a little 6-0 run together to cut it to 4 thanks, in part, to a pretty fadeaway from James Young (!!!) and sweet drive 7 lefty dunk by Tyler Zeller.  Miami answered with a run of their own to push it back up to double digits.  Both teams kind of meandered along the rest of the way in what was, quite honestly, one of the shittiest displays of basketball I’ve seen. No energy. No ability to hit shots. No… nothing.  The Celtics scored 31 points in the first half.

Brad Stevens hit the guys with some smelling salts or something, because the Celtics came out in the second half (with Smart starting instead of Turner) 4-for-4 to cut the 13 point lead down to 7 before a timeout. That stretch extended to 7-for-7 on a nice Zeller spin move on the left block to cut the lead to 4.  An Avery Bradley jumper cut the lead to 2 with 3 minutes to go in the quarter. A pair of Thornton free throws later, and the Celtic had evened the game.  After some back-and-forth, Miami finished the quarter with just a 2-point lead. Evan Turner did not play in this quarter.

He did start the 4th quarter, and it just happened to coincide with the Heat extending their lead to double digits. That was mostly Hassan Whiteside’s doing, but it just felt like the energy of the team changed when Turner was in there. Maybe that’s just me thinking that. Jared Sullinger certainly did nothing to stop Whiteside.  The Celtics looked dead for most of the quarter but they cut the lead to 6 with about a minute and a half left when Marcus Smart came up with a steal. The ball found its way to Avery Bradley on the left side, but he dribbled the ball off his knee and stepped out of bounds in the ensuing scrum for the loose ball. Norris Cole answered with a jumper to push it to 8. The Celtics missed their next shot, and missed their shot at coming all the way back. Miami wins it 83-75.

The Green:

Marcus Smart maybe had his best stint running the show in his brief career. He set a career-high for assists with 9. He QB’d the Celtics through that 3rd quarter comeback.

Brandon Bass had another nice game with 15 points, 6 rebounds and a couple of blocks.

Tyler Zeller got the start over Jared Sullinger (who was late due to traffic) and had his most effective game in quite some time. There are still times where it’s clear he needs a PG who will actively look for him, but he did a nice job creating some shots for himself in the post.

Avery Bradley’s numbers looked great in the end, but most of his work came in the 3rd quarter where he was 5-6 for 10 points. He was 3-9 for 7 points the rest of the way.

James Young got minutes! Yay! … yeah, he only got 9, but it’s 9 more than we’re used to.

The Gross:

Avery Bradley is such a good defender that his own body involuntarily forces himself to turn the ball over when he’s dribbling…. which is to say Avery Bradley is a f’ing adventure when he’s trying to dribble sometimes. The turnover at the end was a killer, and it was his own knee that started the fiasco.

The Ohio State connection, Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger were each tied for a team-low -13.  O-H… OH NO!

Turner was 0-6 for no points while Sullinger was 3-11 for 7 points. He not only again struggled today on offense, he simply couldn’t defend Whiteside.

Whatever happened to Jae Crowder? He was a budding fan favorite and now he’s largely invisible.

The Greenlights:

The Grid:

• Celtics 3rd quarter:  11-20 fg (55%), 28 points.  Every other quarter: 19-61 (31%), 47 points
• Points in the paint: Miami 36-28
• Whiteside: 20 points (10-17 fg), 9 rebounds, 3 blocks.

Aside from the 3rd quarter, this game was unwatchable. Let’s hope the Super Bowl washes this taste from our mouths.

Box Score
Condensed game