Just one more second would have made all the difference for the Boston Celtics on the final play in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers.
But the Celtics only have themselves to blame for not having the necessary time available on Marcus Smart’s near game-winning 3-pointer in a 116-115 overtime loss at Wells Fargo Center.
After 76ers star guard James Harden hit a go-ahead triple from the corner with 19 seconds left in overtime, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla stuck with his trend and elected not to call a timeout. But then the Celtics wasted 14 precious seconds off the clock before Jayson Tatum initiated the play Mazzulla wanted. Once Tatum finally drove to the basket, he kicked a pass out to Smart with just under two seconds left. But the pass was slightly off the mark and the ball was still on Smart’s fingertips when the clock hit triple zeros, nullifying his attempt that swished through the net.
Mazzulla liked the action the Celtics ran on the final play, but even he knew the clear lack of urgency proved costly.
“That was the play. We just had to play with a little bit more pace,” Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “We had the right matchup. Jayson got downhill, made the right play at rim. We just had to play with a little bit more pace there.”
Mazzulla added: “Just make the right read, which I thought he did. We got (Tyrese) Maxey in the pick-and-roll. We just didn’t play fast enough.”
Smart saw it similarly to Mazzulla, knowing the Celtics didn’t do enough to ensure that the play developed quickly with sufficient time left to get a shot off.
“We were just trying to get the right guys in the right spot,” Smart told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “We just went a slower than expected. We wanted to go really fast. They did a good job of getting their guys on the right people and making a play. We just got see what was going on, see the time, and we got to understand the timing that (it takes).”
