After Another Huge Road Win It Is Abundantly Clear That Watching Playoff Celtics Basketball Is Not For The Faint Of Heart

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

Before we begin, happy Mother's Day to any mom stoolie who somehow might be reading this blog, and this is also a reminder to everyone else to make sure you call your mother if you're not seeing them today. 

Now, if you perhaps need something to read to keep you away from your family at some point today, you have come to the right place. Maybe you're hiding out in your bathroom and need an escape, well the good news for you is that is exactly why I exist. On most days it's so you had something to pull up at work while you were finding ways to get paid to take a shit and needed to kill 15-20 minutes, and today you can use this tool as a way to get some peace because we have a lot to talk about. 

Let's start with the fact that it makes no goddamn sense how awful the Celts can be in their own building, while also being so dominant on the road. I'd say about 99.9% of the time, that situation is flipped. Yet here they are, .500 at home over the last handful of years while also having an NBA best 17 road wins since 2021-22 (17-7). None of that makes any goddamn sense and I suggest you don't spend too much brain power trying to figure it out. For whatever reason, this team likes to do things the hard way. It's taking years off our lives, but it's who they are so we may as well embrace it. Don't get caught up in what it would mean if the Celts could just win at a non-embarrassing rate in their own building and instead focus on the task at hand.

Game 3 was the "gotta have it" game, and the Celts played like it. Everything from their approach to their execution was exactly what I think most fans were hoping for heading into such a crucial swing game. Make no mistake, you lose this game and allow the Cavs to have the opportunity to go up 3-1, it's a full-blown disaster. That might seem dramatic, but for a team that has MULTIPLE letdowns in elimination games on their own floor, I'd say avoiding that situation would be pretty ideal. So taking Game 3 and now putting the pressure on the Cavs to now be fighting off a 3-1 lead and a potential closeout game on the road was extremely important. 

Just like in the MIA series, taking Game 3 is nice, but it is not the goal. Securing the split was important, but now is the time to get greedy and find a way to be even more locked in for Game 4. The Celts have regained the ability to really put the pressure on the Cavs, so now is the time to go for the throat. You don't often get second chances in life, so take advantage.

With that said, let's dive into one of the biggest wins of the year

The Good

- Normally we'd be starting the blog with the best players, seeing as how they are the most important pieces of the team, but I'm going in a different direction. We are beginning today with a rightful selection, and based on my research, this is the first time it's happened all year.

We are beginning with the play of Jrue Holiday

If I'm going to spend all that time talking about how nervous I am about Jrue's playoff offense, then I also have to give credit where credit is due. Jrue wasn't just great in this game, he was spectacular. While the box score numbers may not suggest it, I'm going to go as far as to say this was Jrue Holiday's best overall performance as a Celtic since he got here. When you add the production to the pressure of the moment and how he impacted the game on both ends of the floor, this was a 10/10 performance when the Celts needed it most. 

Everything about Jrue's performance was fantastic. His offensive approach of being aggressive and getting to the rim at will while making sure to take his time and show patience rather than being all out of wack and rushing his shots at the rim made all the difference. Finally, he stopped smoking bunny after bunny because it felt like he was much more under control. His approach of being more aggressive offensively while making sure to pick his spots is exactly how he needs to play, especially in games where Derrick might be struggling offensively. 

Defensively, I mean this is an area we've never had to worry about, even during his offensive issues. Jrue's defense has been nails pretty much these entire playoffs, and I'll take him allowing only 6 points on 33 possessions against Mitchell. His rebound in the final 3 minutes over Evan Mobley after a Dean Wade missed corner 3 was sneaky one of the biggest plays of the quarter, and Holiday finished with only 1 TO in his 37 minutes.

At the end of the day, it was a complete two way performance at a time when the Celts desperately needed it. That deserves recognition and is exactly what the expectation should be for Holiday. Yes he's the 4th/5th offensive option, but he doesn't need to play like one. Last night, he was easily the 3rd best Celtic on the floor.

- Of course, to win a game like this on the road, it requires your two foundational pieces to play like foundational pieces. The Celts can get awesome Jrue games, Derrick can have moments, other guys can make plays, but at the end of the day our hopes and dreams fall on the shoulders of two players.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

So how did they respond?

For Tatum, he finally did what everyone cries about and was "mean", "loud", and "showed that DAWG", whatever the fuck that means. For whatever reason people only attribute toughness to when you scream or flex after plays, so it was nice to see Tatum was capable of that. Can we now shut the fuck up about that? It's easily the most moronic debate in a long list of moronic debates when it comes to Jayson Tatum. 

What is undeniable was that his approach was much more aggressive than we've seen in previous moments in this series, and considering the stakes of Game 3, that was a welcomed sight. With Donovan Mitchell making everything he threw up, it was crucial that Tatum not only respond, but respond efficiently, which is exactly what he did in the first half (6-12) and then again through 3 quarters (9-18) which was huge in terms of the Celts getting separation. Basically, Tatum needed to be the best player on the court in Game 3, and he was. It's not just about his point total, but his complete two way performance

There's this weird narrative around Jayson Tatum that he never shows up in the playoffs, or that he's playing "poorly" this postseason. It's a little bizarre. I suppose this is possible mostly because the people who say those things simply choose to ignore nights like last night. Another playoff game where Tatum led the team in points, rebounds, and assists while playing elite level defense. Then when it came time after the game to address these morons and haters of which there are still many, Tatum had one of the best responses any #1 can have

Did I love his shot selection in the 4th? Not particularly. There's always room to improve and get better, but I'll take some iffy shot selection at times if it means we get everything else that Tatum did in this game. In situations like this, the best players need to step up and establish themselves, and that is exactly what Tatum did. He went shot for shot with Mitchell when the game was in the balance, and for the first time all series we got to see what things look like when EVERYTHING mostly runs through Tatum. This was his highest usage game by far, and credit Joe for making that adjustment and remembering it's OK to have your best player touch the ball.

With Jaylen, what we're seeing is a leap in his leadership. Not just with his play, which was arguably one of his best playoff performances as a Celtic (13-17 shooting, 1 TO, great defense), but also the non-basketball related stuff. Setting a tone, being accountable, getting his guys going

Did you know that so far this postseason, Jaylen has 2 or fewer TOs in 5 of the 8 games? He's had 3 or fewer in 6 of the 8. His 55.6% from the floor leads the team, and he's shooting over 60% from the field on 2pt FGA. Honestly, the only rough part of Jaylen's playoffs so far is his abhorrent 58% from the FT line. Jesus Christ is that awful. But everything else?

With no real rim protection and some weakness on the perimeter, there's no reason why Jaylen can't live at the rim. If he's also going to be taking care of the basketball on these drives, I'm not sure how you stop something like this from happening every night

When the game was still sort of in the balance in the 4th quarter, it was Jaylen's ability to get into the paint and convert that kept the Cavs at bay. Then Jayson started getting to the rim late, and that was that. 

The Celts aren't going to lose many games when their two best players combine for 61, and some nights that's going to have to be the formula. I think we all love when the production is balanced, everyone is knocking down shots and the Celts steamroll, but that's not how it's always going to be in the playoffs. Sometimes you just need your two best players to show up and win you a game, and that's what we got last night.

- Even all these hours later, I still cannot believe this shot

The balls you have to have to even think of attempting a shot like this is insane. I could make the case that it was an awful decision at the moment given the score and the time, especially since it felt like the Cavs were one stop and bucket away from really swinging the momentum. Pritchard misses that three and it leads to a transition bucket or worse a transition 3PM, and this is a 6 point game with over 7 minutes left and the crowd going nuts.

Instead, it was a death blow. It was the only shot Pritchard made all night, but man was it massive. Easily one of the biggest shots of the night, and arguably one of the biggest shots of the season all things considered. To do it on the road in that spot, that's about as big time of a play as you can find. 

A logo 3 with 10 seconds on the shot clock in a 9 point game as momentum was swinging the other way. Unreal.

- Defense, defense, defense, defense. To win a title, that is the way. This isn't exactly groundbreaking news, but the proof is also in the pudding.

Holding an NBA team to under 100 points in 2024 is impressive no matter who the team is. To do it in 6 of your 8 playoff games, including games on the road, is borderline insane. After allowing the Cavs to shoot around 50% from deep in Game 2, the Celts were much better in that department, allowing only 33.3% last night. Outside of Mitchell, the Celts were much better at limiting everyone else, and frankly that might be the formula moving forward.

Mitchell is going to get his, he's virtually unstoppable. But you know who isn't unstoppable? Every other Cav. All non-Mitchell Cavs were 24-62 (5-24), and on the other end if the Celts are going to shoot 51/38%, the math is generally going to work in your favor.

Celts won every quarter, never allowed more than 28 points, and over the final 3 quarters allowed just 20, 21 and 24 points. To win a tough playoff game on the road you HAVE to be effective defensively, and not just for a quarter, but for a full 48. It's no surprise that when the Celts have played defense this postseason, they've won. 

- A+ game from Joe in this one. Perfect timeout usage, rotations were solid (basically just making sure Tatum/Brown were always out there), they finally found some ways to limit Mitchell in terms of forcing him to the sideline and making him a passer, overall I didn't have too many complaints about Joe's night. 

-  Celts won the rebounding battle, points in the paint battle, fastbreak points battle, and 2nd chance points battle. Hard to lose when you're dominant in the margins, which is the opposite of what we saw in Game 2. 

- Coming out of the half on a 14-0 run was how you knew the Celts weren't screwing around in this game. This season has shown us that when the Celts win a 3rd quarter, they almost never lose. It's very similar to the Warrior 3rd quarter of death during their dynasty run. Game 2, the Celts were destroyed in the 3rd, and lost. Last night they punched first and were assertive, won the quarter 27-21 and the rest was history.

The Bad

- I'm just not sure what you can do to limit Donovan Mitchell. During the regular season, Mitchell averaged 30/7/4.5 on 50/33% shooting against the Celts, and so far during the playoffs he's averaging 31.7/6.3/5.3 on 51/53% with 5.3 3PM a game. Nothing worked last night for the majority of the game, whether the Celts tried to play drop (which is silly as Mitchell thrives with pullups) or if it was a switch where he did nothing but burn Al Horford all night either with side step 3s or blow bys.

There are few players in the league where when you see them with the ball, all you feel is a sense of inevitability. I've reached the point now where whenever Mitchell tries any sort of shot, whether it be a stepback or a contested floater, my brain is certain he's going to make the shot. He's just such a devastating offensive player from all three levels, I think at this point it's undeniable how much of a playoff riser he is. 

The numbers speak for themselves. He had 16 points on 6-11 (4-7) against Al, was 2-3 against Jrue, 2-3 against Jaylen, 1-2 against White, and 0-1 against Tatum. It didn't really matter who the Celts threw at Mitchell, at this point he's about as unguardable as it gets.

- Somehow this was called a foul on Jayson Tatum

If Adam Silver is curious why people think he has an officiating problem, here's yet another example. What are we doing? In a playoff game? I had to watch that video like 50 times just to try and see what could have been a foul, and I got nothing. The Cavs immediately went down and scored after this call, and at this point I think we're all tired of this ref bullshit. It's happening in EVERY game of EVERY series. 

- Way too many fallaway jumpers for Tatum in the 4th quarter. He eventually hit the one on the baseline for the dagger, but for the majority of the 4th (2-7), it felt like he was settling for shots that he didn't need to settle for. I have no problem with Tatum taking midrange jumpers, but I would like to see him generate those midrange jumpers in a different way. The backdown into a fallaway always seems to be short, so let's switch it up. 

- Because these are the Celtics, naturally we weren't allowed to enjoy a 23 point lead stress free. Of course due to some iffy shot selection we eventually saw that lead get down to 9, and while we should all be used to that by now, it's certainly not enjoyable.

You could tell they were going for the homerun 3PM knockout, which is why I loved that Joe took a timeout once the lead was down to 16. A couple of bad trips on both ends of the floor is how things spiral out of control, so should the Celts get another 23 point lead in a game, I am kindly asking them to keep their foot on the gas. You don't need homerun plays up 23. You just need high quality looks and execution. 

The Ugly

- While he basically has lifetime immunity, this was a pretty brutal Al Horford showing on both ends of the floor. Just 1-7 (0-6) offensively with most of his looks being wide open, and then defensively he had all sorts of issues. At the same time, the man is 37 years old playing 38 minutes a night. It's not even his fault really. I did think there were some solid late contests in the 4th which were big, but overall Al just looks gassed.

The every-other-day game thing is clearly showing up, as are his high minutes. Remember, Al Horford was not supposed to be playing 38 minutes in playoff games, but with KP out he really has no choice. It's not like Kornet has been super effective, and you're sort of forced to play drop coverage with him in the game, which is dangerous against a Mitchell/Garland backcourt.

Perhaps the answer is more Xavier Tillman minutes, and the fact that he was a DNP-CD tells me the team might not think he's a good matchup in this series? He did struggle a little bit in space in the previous game, but at this point I think you have to live with it. You cannot burn Al out, he's too important with KP injured. You can tell his legs have no juice at the moment, so give Tillman 10-15 minutes and live with the results if it means getting Al the rest he needs.

- I am starting to wonder if Derrick White did another JJ Redick podcast. That's the only explanation I can think of for what has happened to his shooting these last 2 games. A brutal Game 2 backed up by another 4-13 (3-8), the offense has completely disappeared as of late. The good news is defensively Derrick White was still engaged and had perhaps one of the biggest defensive plays of the game

but make no mistake, the offense has to come back. With no KP, Jrue's offense being hit or miss, and Al's legs being cooked, the importance of Derrick White's offensive production is huge. They survived last night, but it cannot become a habit.

So now we turn the page to tomorrow night's Game 4. I think we all expect the Cavs to come out guns blazing and give what will probably be their best effort of the series, and the Celts cannot get complacent. Sure winning Game 3 was nice, but winning both games is better. They still have an opportunity to make this a quick series, but it will require them to play the best game yet. Given that it's taking place on the road, there's a good chance that's what happens.

6 down, 10 to go.