How Ime Udoka, Celtics Reacted To Lack Of Composure Down Stretch

Head coach Ime Udoka has tried to make it a priority of his to get Celtics players to remain focused on the task at hand rather than getting caught up in conversation with the referees.

That wasn’t the case Wednesday, however, as Boston lacked composure for much of the night depicted as Jayson Tatum earned a second-quarter technical and Marcus Smart was ejected with 10 seconds left in a 106-98 defeat against the top-seeded Miami Heat.

Udoka, while acknowledging the referees lacked consistency, still was somewhat critical of his group’s response to such situations.

“Could do a better job with our composure, for sure,” Udoka said during a postgame video conference. “Like I said, our team in general felt like we were talking a little bit too much and still had our chances there. So an area we could definitely improve on. Our composure wasn’t the best tonight, but we’ve been really good in that area.”

Tatum, who still doesn’t seem to agree with the call that resulted in his technical, said it was an example of emotions being high in a playoff-like game.

“I mean, it’s easy to say that now,” Tatum responded when asked about Boston’s composure. “I mean, that was my 13th tech of the season. I had 12 coming in and I know you get 16 and you have to sit out a game. So I’m very aware. I do not want to have to sit out a game. So, the previous 12 techs I’ve looked at all of them. I agree with probably 10 of them I deserved. But tonight, I don’t know. That’s one I have to think about and watch. That was a tough one. … Just something we have to move on from and keep playing.”

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Wednesday’s contest serves as Boston’s second-straight loss for the first time since Jan. 21. It came after a run of the Celtics blowing out teams, causing some to think the failure to execute was because they hadn’t found themselves in that situation in a long time.

Al Horford, Udoka and Tatum, though, did their best to spin it in a positive while expressing it was something the group could learn from.

“I think it’s a good thing, good game from us to learn from especially watching the fourth quarter, moving forward,” Tatum said. “Just playing a good team, another team that’s at the top of the East. Good, close game. Obviously a game we would’ve loved to win but something we can learn from going forward.”

Horford added: “I think it was, it’s good for our team to be in this position. Obviously they’re a playoff team, it’s just a great time for us to continue to find ways to better. … I just think it’s good. Like you said, we haven’t been in one of these in a while in the fourth and I think for us the key is going to be looking at this game tomorrow, seeing how we can improve and get better and move on.”

The Celtics, now two games back of the Heat for the top seed and currently in fourth, return to the floor Friday against the Indiana Pacers.