And Yet
Neither the Celtics players nor their coaches showed up to Game 3. And yet.
First, a live look at the Celtics coaching staff:
The Celtics coaching staff made an adjustment before Game 3. But the adjustment – taking Robert Williams III out of the starting lineup in favor of Derrick White – was not only a bad adjustment (as I discussed in my last edition, it was Al Horford who needed to come out of the lineup) it simply adjusted back to the Celtics' normal regular season lineup. So, of course the Miami Heat were ready for that, as they had seen it plenty. They pounced immediately, getting Kevin Love matched up on a smaller defender. He scored on the game's first two possessions, and while the rout didn't start for another quarter, it was pretty clear right from those two possessions that the Celtics had already been outsmarted.
I suppose if you have to give the Celtics credit for one thing it's that they keep coming up with creative ways to lose. In Game 1, they lost in the third quarter. In Game 2, they lost in the fourth quarter. In Game 3, they lost in the second quarter. They do say variety is the spice of life.
It is fair to say that Joe Mazzulla is completely lost, and his team is too. Robert Williams III hit all 11 of his shots in the first two games, and had been a real force the prior four games. So of course he only played four minutes and 28 seconds in the first half of Game 3. The Celtics spent Game 3 doing exactly what Miami wanted them to do instead of playing to and believing in their own strengths.
Watching this game was truly humiliating. As bad as the coaching staff was, the players just never really showed up at all. I could give several examples, but what would be the point? And yet, this series is not over.
They said on the broadcast a few times that no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit. We Boston fans have been in this situation before, with the 2004 Red Sox. The parallels aren't perfect, but they are there. For starters, neither team could prevent the other team from scoring in the first three games of the series. Those Red Sox allowed 32 runs over their three losses, including an unfathomable 19 in their humiliating Game 3. Both teams had an MVP candidate who no one wanted to take seriously when the chips were down. Both teams had a super old guy who was their emotional bellwether.
OK, that wasn't a perfect comparison, and the parallels may not be quite so perfect. While Terry Francona was in his first year as the Red Sox manager, he had managed before, and his tactics were beyond sound. That's one thing. For another, in Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and Curt Schilling, the 2004 Red Sox had four of the ~150 best players in baseball history. Someday, Jayson Tatum may place himself in such company, but it's doubtful that anyone else on this Celtics team ever will. Jaylen Brown literally can't even go a full game without falling down these days. In Game 3, he was a true two-way faller, as he fell down untouched once on offense and once on defense (this is why normal people sign shoe deals with Nike instead of coloring in their own shoes, Jaylen). And yet, I still believe in this Celtics team.
While the nitty gritty of the details may not match up, the hopelessness, despair, the pit in your stomach feeling that you felt if you watched this Game 3? That was the exact same feeling all of us who watched Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS felt. And yet. You can't mount a historic comeback without being utterly humiliated first (and "humiliated" is exactly how then-Red Sox GM Theo Epstein described it). After 2004's Game 3, Dan Shaughnessy said the New York Yankees had "stripped the Red Sox of all dignity." Tony Massarotti said "they are disgracing the game and embarrassing themselves," before adding "what a joke." A writer for the Hartford Courant wrote, "never did the Yankees look more professional. Never did the Red Sox look more amateurish."
Change the team names, and you could apply the same quotes to the Game 3 we just watched. I haven't done my tour of Boston media yet this morning, but I'm sure similar quotes have been let loose today. The script says that this Celtics team will be quickly broomed into the wastebasket of history. And yet, I choose to believe anyway. If the Celtics win Game 4, they will have Game 5 on their home court, where they're due for a win. Game 6 on the road has never scared this iteration of the Celtics, and in a Game 7, like Kevin Millar said back in 2004, anything can happen. So I will continue to believe in these Boston Celtics, and I will continue to believe that they are capable of making history. Don't let them win tomorrow night!