8 takeaways as Jayson Tatum, Celtics extend season with Game 4 victory over Heat
The Celtics are on the ropes, but they aren't done yet.
The Celtics‘ Eastern Conference Finals showdown against the Heat isn’t quite done yet.
Facing elimination for the third time in the postseason, the Celtics improved to 3-0 — albeit trimming their deficit against the Heat to just 3-1 — with a 116-99 victory that sent the series back to Boston.
Here are the takeaways.
1. We will get to all the good things the Celtics did, and there were a great number of them.
But before we do, the state of the series requires us to bring up the context once again: Can you imagine if the Celtics had taken care of business once, just once, before this? The Celtics are fully capable of beating the Heat. We knew it. The Celtics knew it. The Heat presumably knew it, despite the confidence that was visibly dripping from their every pore in the first three games.
And still, the Heat built a 3-0 lead that made Tuesday’s victory much less notable. If the Celtics hadn’t handed the ball to Butler three times in the fourth quarter of Game 1, the series is tied heading back to Boston, and the Celtics have home-court advantage once again.
That’s what losing both games at home costs you. That’s what completely letting go of the rope in Game 3 costs you. The Celtics should be favored in this series after their Game 4 victory, not facing a historic uphill battle that necessitates all of this couching.
Game 4 should have been — at worst — the moment the Celtics re-took control of the series. Instead, it’s the first step of a climb up a hill no NBA team has ever managed to scale.
2. Maybe the good news for the Celtics is that they now get an unlimited number of elimination games from Jayson Tatum.
After scoring 51 to ward off the 76ers in Game 7, Tatum dropped 34 including 11 rebounds and seven assists facing elimination in Miami. The Heat couldn’t stop his forays to the rim. The Celtics knocked down their shots when Tatum passed out of double teams, keeping the floor spaced.
Tatum still turned the ball over five times, but it was a start. Everything the Celtics did on Tuesday might be at least a game too late, but it was certainly movement in the right direction.
3. The Celtics made 18-of-44 3-point attempts (40.9 percent) while the Heat went 8-for-32 (25 percent).
The key to this series isn’t exactly a secret. The Heat have been shooting an otherworldly percentage from behind the arc, while the Celtics haven’t been able to find the range even when they generate good looks.
If the Celtics have a reason to take heart while still trailing 3-1, they can take heart in this: The Heat were unlikely to stay as blindingly hot as they were from deep, and the Celtics were unlikely to be cold for an entire four-game stretch. The big question now is whether the Celtics can string four consecutive games together of good shooting from behind the arc.
4. Al Horford made three triples in the first half and finished 3-for-6 while Grant Williams shot 4-for-6 from deep overall. That 7-for-12 total from two crucial floor spacers might have been as essential as anything else the Celtics did outside of Tatum’s big night.
Williams has had a bizarre season — in and out of the rotation, constant talks about his extension, a playoff run that featured none of the teams that fit his playing style best — but his performance in the last three games is a nice reminder of why he is valuable to this team. He’s a versatile defender, he can shoot 3s, and when everyone else respects the Heat just a little too much, he’s not afraid to get in Jimmy Butler’s face. That backfired in Game 2, but Williams swatted a Butler turnaround in Game 4 at a big moment in the fourth.
5. This play felt like it was going to be a perfect summation of the entire series for the Celtics: Do whatever you want, good or bad. A Heat role player is about to answer with a 3-pointer either way.
6. Butler scored 29 points and had a big stretch in the third quarter to try to keep the Heat attached, but he finished just 9-for-21 from the field. Butler has played well, particularly on the defensive end, and he seemed to be in the Celtics’ heads prior to Game 4, but he’s shooting just 42.3 percent from the floor and scoring 25.5 points per game.
The 3-0 lead the Heat have built is as much about the incredible play of their role players — or rather, the “undrafted guys” as the TNT broadcast seems unable to stop itself from saying over and over again — as it is about the singular brilliance of Butler himself.
7. That brings us to perhaps the biggest reason Tuesday’s game felt like a moment to sit up and say, “Huh” rather than simply chalking it up to a gentleman’s sweep:
- Gabe Vincent: 1-for-4 from three, four turnovers
- Kyle Lowry: 1-for-5 from three, four turnovers
- Duncan Robinson: 0-for-4 from three, two turnovers
- Bam Adebayo: 10 points, four turnovers
Believe what you want to believe. Doubt what you want to doubt. But the Celtics did actually make the Heat uncomfortable, and a Miami team that has thrived on an aura of invincibility suddenly looked fallible for the first time against a team that was objectively much better all year.
Again: It might be too late, but it’s a start.
8. Jaylen Brown still didn’t really get loose — 17 points, 7-for-16 shooting — but he finished with just one turnover and four assists. It speaks to how costly the Celtics’ turnovers have been, particularly the turnovers of their stars, that Brown’s one turnover felt like an enormously consequential improvement.
The Celtics and Heat will face off once again in Boston on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. If the Celtics win that one, maybe things get a little more spicy.
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