Jayson Tatum credited Joe Mazzulla for game-changing message that sparked Celtics’ comeback in Game 3 win
The Celtics trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half before turning it around to take a 3-0 series lead.
The Celtics looked destined to lose their first road game of the postseason and watch their lead in the Eastern Conference finals shrink to 2-1 in Game 3 before winning, 114-111.
Even though the Pacers were without All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton, they had very few missed shots within the arc in the first half of Saturday’s game. They shot 69.4 percent on 2-point shots and 63.6 percent from the field in the opening two frames. Guards Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell looked unstoppable on their dribble drives, with the former scoring a career-high 32 points while the latter scored 23.
The Pacers’ spectacular shotmaking within the arc continued in the opening minutes of the second half. A pair of consecutive buckets from McConnell ballooned the Pacers’ lead up to 18, their largest of Game 3.
As Jaylen Brown later remarked that “some of those guys turned into [expletive] Michael Jordan or whatever” after the game, Jayson Tatum shared Joe Mazzulla’s message to the team in a timeout prior to McConnell’s consecutive makes helped spark the turnaround.
“One of those timeouts in the third quarter, Joe just kind of told us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves,” Tatum told reporters. “Whatever situation we’re in, that’s the situation that we’re in. It’s on us to figure it out.
“Things weren’t going our way. We weren’t hitting shots at the time. It seemed like they were coming out and scoring every single time. Maybe we were slow to bring the ball up the court. When we get scored on, we might put our head down. It felt like [expletive] wasn’t going our way. Joe always talks about how it’s not always going to go how we want it to or we expect it to. That’s OK. It’s OK to be down 15 or 17 on the road and still have an opportunity to win the game.”
So, the Celtics listened to their head coach and ratcheted their defensive effort. They recorded eight blocks and four steals in the final 18 minutes of Saturday’s game, allowing the Pacers to score just 42 points in the second half.
During a mic’d up segment on ABC’s broadcast of Saturday’s game, Mazzulla was heard telling his Celtics team during a timeout to play one possession at a time, focusing on getting stops, and disregard what the score said.
But there were changes that Mazzulla made to his rotation in the second half of Game 3 that played a role in Boston’s improved defensive output. The Celtics opted to lean into bigger lineups, playing Xavier Tillman and Sam Hauser more minutes off the bench than Oshae Brissett and Payton Pritchard. The increased length off the bench made it more difficult for Indiana to get the clean looks it got in the paint in the first half.
As Mazzulla has often said that defensive play begins on the offensive end during his two seasons as head coach, he seemed to acknowledge that wasn’t entirely the case Saturday.
“It took us a little while to figure out how we were going to match up with them in order to slow them down and put us in the best position,” Mazzulla explained. “Without Haliburton, they went to some of their different stuff, and they had a lot of speed. So I never felt like it was our offense, I felt like it was our defense, and I thought we took it to another level in the second half.”
Now, the Celtics are a win away from making it back to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. It would mark the first time they’ve played on the NBA’s highest stage with Mazzulla as head coach.
Derrick White credited Mazzulla for helping the team be prepared for moments like Saturday’s Game 3 as they’re on the precipice of advancing.
“This year, he’s just been connected,” White said. “His communication’s really good and the trust. We’ve gone through a lot of these situations in practices. He’s talked about it. So, we all feel locked in, connected, and I love playing for Joe. He’s been great for us.”
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