miami like Boston Celtics Ignore the prospect of being out of the Eastern Conference Finals, guard malcolm brogdon Said against the troubles of the team miami The series is a symptom of season-long issues against consistent opponents, saying that Boston’s identity has “gone throughout the year” and its defense has slipped.
“I think it’s a strong identity of the teams,” Brogdon said during an off-day availability session Monday afternoon at the team hotel before Game 4 on Tuesday night. “I think Miami is one of the teams, one of the few teams in the league — Miami, denver, there’s only a few of them — that really have a strong identity, and they play with it every night. They are committed to it.
“And, for us, our identity is gone throughout the year. We’re trying to figure out who we are, because I think we’re such a great, talented scoring team, but when we don’t make shots, So we we have to rely on our defense, and our defense is not consistent every night.
“So, playing with a team that is very consistent and disciplined, we struggle.”
The Celtics certainly struggled last week. they’ve gone upstairs jason tatum scoring 51 points to topple his oldest rivals philadelphia 76ersIn the East Semifinals, the Heat went on to lose two straight games at home to Miami under an avalanche of shot-making before exiting the Kasya Center on Sunday night in Game 3 to begin this series with a fourth-quarter implosion.
After Sunday’s disappointing loss, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla acknowledged that Boston’s defense has taken a downturn. After finishing second in the regular season, the defense allowed three more points per 100 possessions after the season and moved up to 10th among playoff teams. Brogdon said Monday the team hasn’t been consistent defensively in 2022-23, and those issues are starting to emerge atlanta hawks And the 76ers in the first two rounds of the playoffs are now coming back to haunt the Celtics.
“We haven’t been consistent defensively all year, and that was the hallmark of the team last year,” Brogdon said. “I think it got away from us. We’ve had areas where we’ve been great defensively, but not consistently.
“And, honestly, every series we’ve played, we’ve struggled. So, now we’re playing a team that’s playing like they’re the best team in the league, and they’re incredibly disciplined, Incredibly consistent.” And I think we’re struggling with teams that are consistent on a possession-by-possession basis every night.”
The Celtics have struggled with virtually everything in this series. jaylen brown Shooting 37% from the field and 2-for-20 from 3. As a team, Boston is shooting less than 30% from behind the arc.
The most telling statistic about the Celtics’ season is that they are 36–2 when hitting at least 40% of their 3-pointers, and 29–31 when shooting below that, as they have done this series. Has done in all three games.
That’s all in the rearview mirror now for the Celtics, who face the same uphill battle, their forever West rivals, the Los Angeles LakersDo it against the Nuggets: Trying to become the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series.
Of the previous 149 teams that failed in that position, only three forced a seventh game.
But Majulla said he and his players must focus on the immediate task at hand: winning to extend the series by another game and 48 hours.
“That’s the opportunity that we have,” Mazulla said. He said, “We have to do it. We can’t get stuck worrying about work. And if we don’t focus on one sport, the other sports don’t matter.”
“So we just have to keep a narrow mind on it.”
Boston will have to do much better defensively than in Game 3. The Celtics allowed the Heat to shoot 57% overall, go 19-for-35 from 3-point range and romp them all in what was essentially 48 minutes. Celebrating Miami’s spectacular transformation over the past several weeks.
The Heat, who overtook Bulls Inside the final three minutes of the second play-in game – after losing to Atlanta in the first game, also at home – they are just one win away from the NBA Finals. If Miami gets there, it will fall out of the teams with the two best records in the league. Milwaukee and Boston.
But until the Celtics lose for the fourth time, they – at least technically – have a life. And, Brogdon said, there has to be a team at some point to eventually return. Boston hopes that it can get its first win in this series.
“Exactly,” he said. “That’s the approach you have to take.
“We still believe we are the better team. We haven’t played like this in these three games. But there’s always a first.”
