BOSTON — The good news for the Celtics was that Wednesday’s 106-98 loss to the Heat only looked like a playoff game.
Over the past two months, the Celtics have been a dominant team as they navigated the final third of the regular season. They turned a renewed commitment to defense and ball-sharing into a remarkable streak that took Boston from the edge of the playoff picture to legitimate seeded assertion.
It is not a mirage. It is not possible. It is not possible to win 24 games out of 28, which they had done until Sunday, with smoke and mirrors. The Celtics are really good. But the last steps to the top of the mountain are always the hardest to climb and they fell on them on Wednesday.
There was a lot of buzz before the denunciation at TD Garden with the first Heat in town. With six games left in the regular season, Boston had a game with tangible stakes against the best team in the East. A win would not only mean controlling their own destiny for playoff seeding, but it was a chance to gain confidence against a Miami team that had the Celtics’ number in previous playoffs. For three quarters, it looked like the game was headed in that direction.
But when the game was on the line, the Celtics stumbled. They shot 6 for 22 and missed seven of eight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown, who had been 7 for 12 through the first three quarters, was 2 for 10. Jayson Tatum, who is out of NBA Player of the Week honors, attempted just three shots in the final period. The more combat-experienced Heat took the lead and held it tight.
As Miami made big moves, the Celtics complained about calls. Marcus Smart got a technical and was ejected with 10 seconds left. Especially on the road, there will be bad playoff calls. The Celtics need to manage them better. They missed Robert Williams and will continue to miss him in the 4-6 weeks he is expected to be out after undergoing knee surgery. But even without him, it was a winnable game if they executed better.
Boston wasted an excellent offensive effort by Daniel Theis (15 points, 6 against 6 shooting) in the absence of Williams. Outside of Theis, they missed a ton of easy shots. They’ll cringe at the missed opportunities when they watch it on tape.
Ime Udoka wants them to back down. After a comfortable winning streak, he didn’t want to lose Wednesday’s game, but ever since it happened he’s learned the lessons and the motivation that the loss offered. In a month, the Celtics could be gearing up to face that same Miami team in the second round. They can learn from it.
“As we approach the playoffs, tonight was a good example of what we’re going to see happen,” Udoka said. “It’s a good test for us for the future. There are things to clean up. We have a lot of things to review and clean up knowing that every game will not be as easy as it has been in recent years. time.
It was a fun turnaround after a moribund start to the year. But no one will be happy if the climax of the 2021-22 season was in March. Al Horford was confident the Celtics are still improving and that Wednesday’s loss can help that process.
“It was good for our team. It’s obviously a playoff team. It’s a great time for us to find ways to improve,” he said. “Obviously you want to win, but we don’t haven’t been to one in a while. … That’s the feeling I got. We know what we can do. We know who we are. It’s good for our team. We talked about Rob not playing. There are things we need to do. Things we need to adjust. I think it will make us better. »
