Joe Mazzulla’s coaching decisions prove costly in another 4th-quarter Celtics collapse
"They made the necessary plays to win. We put ourselves in position to do that, and we just didn't make the plays."
More Celtics
The Celtics entered this week with a 46-1 record this season when leading by 16 or more points.
Make that 46-3 now.
For the second straight game, the Celtics relinquished a 20-point third-quarter lead en route to a loss to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals — dropping Game 2, 91-90, on Wednesday night at TD Garden.
After sinking just 15-of-60 shots from 3-point range in a Game 1 loss on Monday, the Celtics’ struggles from 3-point range continued on Wednesday.
Boston shot 25 percent from beyond the arc (10-for-40) in Game 2, and only converted on 5-of-28 shots over the final 15:12 of regulation in the third and fourth quarters.
The Celtics’ top players failed to execute in crunch time — putting the defending champions in an 0-2 hole going back to New York for the next two games of this best-of-seven series.
But Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla also had a rough end to another frustrating night at TD Garden.
“They made every play,” Mazzulla said of Boston’s second-half collapse. “And I said throughout the end of that third, the fourth quarter, I thought we generated some good looks. And then I thought we had some live-ball turnovers, and they took advantage of it.
“So they made the necessary plays to win. We put ourselves in position to do that, and we just didn’t make the plays.”
The Celtics had a chance to snatch a win in the final possession on Wednesday’s matchup.
After Knicks guard Jalen Brunson sank two free throws to give New York a one-point lead with 12.7 seconds left, the Celtics had one timeout left to draw up a play.
Instead, Mazzulla held onto his timeout, with Boston’s final look from Jayson Tatum eventually getting swatted away by Mikal Bridges at the final buzzer.
Mazzulla — who used a timeout on Boston’s previous possession to dial up a play that ended in a Tatum dunk — said that the Celtics were looking to get a similar look for Tatum after Brunson’s free throws.
“Had one [timeout] left, got a good look at the exact same play 20 seconds earlier — tried to execute the exact same thing,” Mazzulla said. “They did a better job of their lower pick-up point, and we weren’t able to get the advantage that we had on that last Tatum dunk. … Just didn’t execute.”
Jaylen Brown — who scored 20 points in the loss for Boston — was asked if a timeout would have changed the Celtics’ fortunes on that final possession.
“That’s just how the game went, I guess,” Brown said. “They made a tough defensive read at the end, and yeah, we just weren’t able to convert in the fourth quarter. That’s what it came down to. Our defense, I thought, was great. We had physicality. We had energy on defense. Our offense let us down.”
Mazzulla also rolled the dice in the fourth quarter in order to get Knicks center Mitchell Robinson off the court.
With just 2:42 left in regulation, the Celtics were whistled for back-to-back take fouls against Robinson — putting New York in the bonus as a result.
Rather than run the risk of having a poor free-throw shooter in Robinson take a few attempts from the charity stripe, the Knicks responded by taking him off the floor — replacing him with OG Anunoby.
“He’s a +[19] and he’s really effective for them,” Mazzulla said of Robinson. “That’s something that we need to do a better job in those minutes, is be more effective when he’s on the floor. Plus 19.”
The Celtics might have made a concerted effort to neutralize Robinson down the stretch, but putting the Knicks in the bonus proved costly in the final minute of play.
Boston’s next foul came on New York’s final possession of the night, with Jrue Holiday whistled for trying to steal the ball from Brunson as he went up for a jump shot. Because New York was in the bonus, Brunson was given the opportunity to go to the free-throw line for the eventual game-winning baskets.
Had Boston not intentionally put New York in the bonus earlier, Holiday could have ideally fouled Brunson before he went into a shooting motion — forcing New York to try and score again.
Instead, Brunson hit his free throws, and the Celtics had no answer during their final look to cap off a miserable night on Causeway Street.
The Celtics will need a strong showing from their star players like Jayson Tatum (5-for-19 from the field) on Saturday at Madison Square Garden if they want to get back in the fight against New York.
But Mazzulla will also need to adapt and move past two games marred by poor execution and painful second-guesses.
“Just take solace in the fact that we got a chance,” Mazzulla said of Boston’s approach entering Game 3. “We have a challenge ahead of us, and we got a chance to go after it together, and we got to do it so we don’t really have a choice, and just got to figure it.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com