BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla had a laundry list of items that went wrong for the Boston Celtics in the third quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.
“We lost our offensive purpose, lost our game plan discipline and allowed them to get out in transition, get second-chance shots. Didn’t guard the 3-point line,” Mazzulla said following Boston’s 123-116 defeat at TD Garden.
Everything came crashing down for the Celtics in that pivotal quarter after they led by 12 at the beginning of the frame. The Heat poured it on with no resistance, knifing up Boston’s defense to shoot a blistering 65.4%, including hitting 6-of-9 3-pointers, from the floor in the frame to outscore the Celtics, 46-25, in 12 minutes. The 46 points in the quarter were a Heat playoff record, according to The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds.
“I feel like they got going, we gave them easy looks in transition and defensively our intensity wasn’t where it needed to be,” Jaylen Brown said. “We we’re up 10. I guess we were a little comfortable. And to start the (third) quarter, they turned it up and ended up finishing the quarter — we were up 10 to start … to being down (12) going into the fourth quarter. That just can’t happen.”
The Celtics seemed in control through the first 24 minutes, answering the Heat at every turn before creating some separation with a 66-57 halftime lead. Boston was feeling itself, too, specifically Al Horford, who after draining a corner 3-pointer trolled the Heat. But it’s become routine for the Celtics to lose focus and not play a complete 48 minutes.
Mazzulla mentioned several times how the Celtics veered away from the game plan and yet again, the common phrase of letting go of the rope was used despite the heightened stage the Celtics are on.
“I thought the first half was good,” Mazzulla said. “I thought we just let go of the rope in the third quarter, lost that sense of urgency. Adjusting to the fact that we played harder than them in the first half and they played harder than us in the third quarter.”
Here are more notes from Celtics-Heat Game 1:
— Jayson Tatum severely hindered Boston’s attempt at completing its comeback late in the fourth quarter when he committed three turnovers in nearly 90 seconds. Tatum threw the ball right to Jimmy Butler after getting shut down on the perimeter to start the putrid stretch before traveling twice 30 seconds apart. He also didn’t attempt a shot in the final frame, scoring six points at the free-throw line.
“I turned the ball over, threw it to Jimmy. You know, that was on me,” Tatum said. “On the shot-fake, I just got sped up a little bit. So, got to slow down a little bit in those moments.”
— The Heat torched the Celtics from beyond the arc. Miami came into the contest shooting 36.8% on its 3-point attempts in the postseason but knocked down 16-of-31 (51.6%) long-range shots to take down Boston.
— Marcus Smart, who called out his teammates after the loss, gave the Celtics a tremendous helping hand in the first half by recording 10 assists while only taking one shot. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Smart’s 10 assists were the most in a half in the playoffs for the Celtics since Rajon Rondo did so in 2012. He picked up his 11th assist just 22 seconds into the third quarter but he didn’t dish another one out for the remainder of the game. He finished 3-for-7 with 13 points in 34 minutes.
“We just got really antsy,” Smart said. “Everybody wanted to make a play and we let our spacing control the game and it worked against us tonight in the second half. First half we were getting to our spots and we were getting the easy shots, the great shots. Second half, we were all clustered up on each other. Didn’t really give each other any room to maneuver and work.”
— Mazzulla trotted out the double-big lineup to start the game, but Robert Williams turned in mixed results. He did give the Celtics extra possessions on the offensive end with his hustle on the boards and went 6-for-6 from the floor for 14 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. But Miami also hunted Williams in switches as he finished as a minus-14, the worst mark in the game.
— After rarely seeing any meaningful minutes so far this season, Mazzulla made the surprise decision to use Payton Pritchard as the eighth man in Boston’s rotation. Seen as a potential sparkplug, Pritchard didn’t have that impact as he played 12 minutes and didn’t score, missing the two shots he took.
— The Celtics look to even the series lead against the Heat in Game 2 on Friday night. Tipoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.
