Too many 3's? Who's to blame?

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Too many 3's??!  #Celtics set record for most missed 3-pointers in a playoff game. Celts let 20-pt lead slip away, lose to Knicks 108-105 in OT.  Thoughts on the series now? Who/what is most to blame for the 20-pt Celtics lead collapse last night? Do you blame HC Joe Mazzulla? Or is it more on the players?

Transcript

00:00Celtics blow a 20-point lead in their own building,

00:05lose game one in overtime to the Knicks last night.

00:11And if, from my perspective,

00:15if Jason Tatum wants some respect put on his name,

00:19as Wiggy said a lot yesterday,

00:21then at some point in these games,

00:25he's got to go out there and get it done himself.

00:28Right.

00:28Because that's what the great ones do, Wiggy.

00:31No more stinkers.

00:33That's what the great ones do.

00:35So let me get to Eric in the car.

00:39Hello, Eric.

00:40Yeah, how you doing?

00:41You know, there was an old football coach around here

00:44that used to talk about situational football.

00:46They did not play situational basketball yesterday.

00:50You shoot the threes to go up 20,

00:52someone on that team has to say,

00:55you know what, I'm taking it to the hole.

00:56So it's a shame.

00:58That's how Atlanta lost the Super Bowl,

01:00and that was the problem last night.

01:01They were not playing situational basketball.

01:03Mango.

01:04Yeah.

01:04That's a great job, Eric, right there.

01:06Because he's right.

01:07I get that threes get you into the game

01:10and get you up by 20,

01:12but there has to be a point in time

01:14when they're making a little bit of a run

01:15where you go,

01:17okay, we're not just going to hock up threes

01:18and let them get twos and go on this run.

01:21And it's a little bit alarming,

01:22and I get it.

01:24This is a really, really good basketball team.

01:26Curtis and I were talking about it before the show.

01:30You know, second quarter, third quarter,

01:33you're sitting there and you're like,

01:35this series is going to be a full sweep.

01:38I mean, everybody...

01:39It's going to sweep forward last night

01:40for the first three quarters of that basketball game, Curtis.

01:43Into the middle of the third,

01:44aren't you sitting at home saying,

01:46the Celtics are not playing well,

01:48and they are up by 20 points.

01:51Like, this is going to be the most boring series of all time.

01:53And I don't know if you guys continue to watch for halftime

01:56or if you just muted it,

01:57but, like, listening to Shaq and all of them talk about it,

01:59they were like,

02:00there's no way that this Knicks team

02:01can compete with this Celtics team for four games.

02:04Like, this is going to be easy for the Celtics.

02:06To have them come out of the locker room

02:08with that type of energy,

02:10and I could see David on hold.

02:12I've seen other people,

02:12you can't blame the coach,

02:13you can't blame the coach.

02:14It's up to the players to stop taking threes.

02:16My lead is going to show you

02:18exactly why I think it might be on the coach.

02:20The first thing they do

02:21as soon as they come up out of halftime

02:23in the third quarter,

02:24Jalen Brown hawks up a three-pointer.

02:26That's the very first thing that they do.

02:29And it's got to be to,

02:32and that's why, you know,

02:33and basketball is about so many runs

02:36and grooves and everything.

02:38As a player, you would think, like,

02:40it's just not falling from there.

02:42Let me get to the free throw line.

02:43Let me try some other stuff.

02:45And it just seems like that they don't,

02:48that never, like, ever,

02:51that light never comes on in their head.

02:52It's like, all right, I'm missing,

02:54but if I keep shooting,

02:55it'll eventually go in.

02:57But isn't it the coach's job

02:59to change an approach in-game

03:02and to diagram some sort of a play

03:06at the end of regulation and in overtime?

03:09I don't even know what it was.

03:11Yeah, I don't know what that play would be doing.

03:13How is it humanly possible?

03:15And if the caller made the Belichick reference,

03:17it's a great point.

03:19When the Patriots were in the playoffs

03:21and had to have a need-to-have-it two-point conversion,

03:25there was never a doubt in your mind

03:26that they had one they hadn't used in a while

03:28and it was going to work

03:29because that's the level of detail they had.

03:32With the Celtics,

03:33Missoula literally has no job.

03:35I could stand back and say,

03:36shoot the three ball,

03:38and they do it.

03:39I don't know what,

03:40I mean, not a good day for the Missoula thing,

03:42but clearly he's not the best coach in the NBA

03:45because that would say that nobody knows how to coach.

03:47Yeah, you've got to be able to draw up

03:48something better at the end

03:49or you've got to just say,

03:50okay, I'm going to get it into

03:51one of my two players' best hands

03:53and then you have to create and get a shot

03:55because if you look at a lot of...

03:57Hold on.

03:58Jason Tatum could have won that basketball game

04:03for them with five seconds left.

04:05It was in his hands.

04:06Yeah, he missed.

04:06He bricked it.

04:08Right, but you then have another opportunity

04:10in overtime.

04:11Yes, you have another opportunity,

04:12but Jason Tatum could have closed it out.

04:16I understand that.

04:17Let's be clear about that.

04:18And we both agree on that.

04:20Okay, good.

04:20But when you don't close it out

04:22and you have another opportunity

04:24because the Knicks have a chance to win the game

04:27and they don't,

04:28you have to take advantage of that next opportunity.

04:31Is Avi from Arlington.

04:35Good morning.

04:37I think it's not...

04:39Jason James is a better player than all of them

04:41and the other players,

04:43they're just dog crap last night.

04:46We're supposed to...

04:47You only win a game with the competing right.

04:51And what about the fouls at the end of the game?

04:54Come on, ref.

04:55I'm not...

04:56No, no, no.

04:57I'm not...

04:58There's...

04:59The officials let them play basketball last night.

05:02I don't...

05:03There's no whining about the refs in that game.

05:07Yeah, I got no issues with the refs.

05:08The refs, they were what they were.

05:10They had their way.

05:12You brought up Carl Anthony Towns.

05:14The Celtics were...

05:15They had their way with him.

05:16Yeah.

05:16And there were a lot of no calls

05:19that the Celtics got away with last night.

05:20Yeah, I mean, he had three fouls early, so...

05:22And then Missoula said,

05:23don't go near him.

05:24He had three fouls early.

05:25Yeah, no.

05:26Sorry, Abbie.

05:27I heard that post...

05:28That's not his own thing, though.

05:29I was listening to the postgame

05:31with Abbie Chin and Forsberg,

05:33and they were bitching about the refs, so...

05:35They were?

05:35Yep.

05:36It's just...

05:37Well, I mean, that...

05:37I mean, NBC Sports Boston

05:39is basically Al Jazeera for the Celtics.

05:41Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry.

05:43Like, I...

05:44There was nothing egregious last night

05:46from the perspective of...

05:50They were...

05:50Tatum can't go 0 for 12 in the fourth quarter.

05:52You just can't do that.

05:54Can't do that.

05:54You gotta...

05:55I don't care if you...

05:56If you go 2 of 8 from 3-point land

06:01in the fourth quarter,

06:02or, you know, you go, you know,

06:043 of 9 from the field,

06:06you just can't go 0 for...

06:08You can't have a donut in the fourth quarter.

06:10You just cannot do that.

06:12When you...

06:12When the game is that close

06:13and you're the best player,

06:14you just can't do that.

06:16Oh, I mean, I...

06:18From a Missoula strategy point of view,

06:21he had them early in that game,

06:24like, trying to get a call

06:27when it came to Robinson

06:29to try to slow that team down.

06:30Yep.

06:31And so I give him, you know,

06:33tiny little points there.

06:34That worked out for him.

06:35And they got Kyle...

06:36They got Kyle Anthony Towns

06:37with the foul trouble

06:38because they...

06:40They kept...

06:40They...

06:41Jalen Brown, he picked up his third foul

06:42and they switched on it

06:43and they kind of cleared the lane

06:45and he was able to

06:46get him to pick up his third foul, so...

06:48But that happens with Kyle Anthony Towns

06:50more than any player in basketball.

06:52There was that stat

06:53that was circulating

06:53during the game on social media.

06:56And was Missoula asked about it?

06:57Like, why...

06:58That is inexcusable.

07:00You all agree

07:00the Knicks don't win that game

07:02if Kyle Anthony Towns

07:03is fouled out in the second half.

07:04Correct?

07:05Correct.

07:06Well, yeah, but I don't know

07:06if you're going to get him

07:07to foul out.

07:08You did a good enough job

07:09to create the distance of...

07:11In the third quarter,

07:11you had 20 shots.

07:1319 were 3.

07:14Right, but that's not...

07:15And he had 4 on him

07:16by then, Curtis.

07:17Right.

07:18And that...

07:18But the...

07:19And that...

07:19When you look at...

07:20That's where you felt...

07:20When you chuck up 3s,

07:21do you draw fouls?

07:22No, no, but that's where

07:23you went wrong.

07:24Right.

07:24When you look at that third quarter,

07:26the fact that you...

07:28You chucked up 19 of your 20

07:31with 3-pointers

07:32and you didn't hit anything,

07:35that's where your issue is.

07:36At least if you're...

07:38I'm not tripping about

07:39the fouls on him,

07:40but at least if you're

07:41taking high percentage shots,

07:43there's a better chance

07:44you make those.

07:45No, but also,

07:45that run that the Knicks

07:47went on in the fourth quarter

07:49was atrocious.

07:50And in the third.

07:51Whatever that...

07:52What?

07:5322-7 run or whatever it was

07:55was a death knell.

07:56All right.

Category

Transcript

Recommended