It’s been a big week for shakeups.
Tucker Carlson is out at Fox.
Don Lemon is out at CNN.
And Punxsutawney Phil is out as the official mascot of Groundhog Day.
He’s been replaced by Lucky, the Celtics leprechaun.
The Celtics are caught in an endless loop of late-game collapses, flat starts, and a persistent inability to close out foes with a vengeance.
We’ve covered this before. There is a glaring lack of “grit and balls” in this version of the Celtics. We want to play fair, so we’ll hold off on the Larry Bird analogies.
But the Big Three 2.0 only left town a decade ago.
Those Celtics won Banner 17 with a 39-point rout in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals.
Thirty-nine points.
And they did it against the defending Western Conference champions led by the late Kobe Bryant.
One must wonder if given the same opportunity in another time-space continuum, these Celtics would have stopped at 15 and subsequently asked Kobe to sign their jerseys.
These are not the 2008 Celtics. Nor are they playing Kobe’s Lakers. Boston’s opponent this time needed to beat Miami in a play-in game just to lock up the No. 7 seed.
In Game 1, Boston let a 32-point lead dissolve to 12.
In Game 3, Boston had a chance for a historically insurmountable 3-0 series lead. The Celtics instead opted to sleepwalk through the first half, allowing 74 points. Those off-nights in the ATL can be rigorous.
In Game 5, like snowflakes melting in the April sun, the Celtics liquified down the stretch inside the climate-controlled TD Garden. Boston botched a 13-point lead in what would have been a close-out victory. Atlanta scored 34 points in the final 12 minutes and did it without Dejounte Murray.
Boston’s defeat reverberated beyond the final score. Or your same-game-parlay at WynnBET.
The Celtics whiffed on a chance to force the Philadelphia 76ers into Game 1 Saturday without their MVP Joel Embiid. He is recovering from a sprained lateral collateral ligament in his left knee.
Instead of resting up and putting extra pressure on Doc “I’ll Never Win Another Title” Rivers and the ailing Sixers ahead of a Game 1 on Saturday, the Celtics now head back to Atlanta for Game 6 on Thursday night.
Game 7 would be in Boston Saturday.
No matter when this series ends, Game 1 against Philly will take place Monday in Boston. We’re still working on the “assumption” the Celtics will get past Atlanta. But that has been downgraded from “belief.”
The Celtics, it is clear, have not taken the Hawks seriously.
Far more troubling, they have not taken this whole postseason thing seriously.
Did they learn anything from the 2022 NBA Finals? Are they committed to a real run at Banner 18? Do they simply plan to go through the motions until they’re wiped out by Jimmy Butler or a refurbished Embiid?
“No” stands at -150 across the board. More not than probable.
Once derided by the TD Garden crowd as “overrated,” Trae Young was everything the Celtics were not in Game 5. He also represents everything the Celtics need if they want to add another banner to the TD Garden rafters before the Bruins beat them to it.
If that guy is “overrated,” I’d hate to see him as merely “average.”
Young generated Atlanta’s final 13 points. In addition, 16 of his game-high 38 came in the fourth quarter.
He wanted the ball. He played without fear. He seized control with his season on the line.
Left unguarded, Young hit a three-pointer from Everett to give the Hawks a 119-117 lead with 2.1 seconds to play and the final score.
A flubbed attempt by Jayson Tatum at the buzzer never reached the rim.
After the game, Tatum was asked about being hit with a technical foul late.
Tatum went full Tom Brady passive-aggressive to whine about the refs without whining about the refs.
On a night when Tatum missed 13 shots, was 1-for-10 from behind the arc, and was a -9 in a 2-point loss, it was all about the latest injustice on the court.
“I was doing something I would normally do during the regular season,” he explained.
Wrong answer.
“We blew this game at home. No excuses. We must do better. These calls don’t matter.”
Right answer.
Even more traumatic, no doubt, was the fact that Deuce Tatum somehow was placed in the second row behind actual paying customers.
They say victory has many fathers and defeat is an orphan. Well, Tuesday’s loss was Antonio Cromartie. Fourteen kids and counting.
Marcus Smart imploded with a pair of flops, a turnover and offensive foul in the final 3:26. He was a -12.
Al Horford contributed 3 points in 33 minutes.
And rookie coach Joe Mazzulla was overwhelmed by it all. He failed to call a timeout during the Hawks’ 13-4 run that began 4:31 left in the fourth quarter until there were 9.1 seconds to play. During that span, Boston’s 111-103 lead transformed into a 116-115 Hawks’ edge.
“I don’t think we were trying to do too much. Just didn’t think we were poised and didn’t execute well,” Mazzulla said.
Just imagine if the coach was able to do something about it?
The assumption is Boston will bounce back in a big way for Game 6 in much the same way it has all season. Your favorite local betting apps have the visiting Celtics as 6.5-point favorites.
A win and/or cover still will not change this unpleasant truth: As Boston progresses deeper into the playoffs, the opportunities to “bounce back” will disappear.
And the Celtics will vanish along with them.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com.
