Pretty Much Everything About The Celtics Game 1 Collapse Was Disgusting, And They Have Nobody To Blame But Themselves

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

How'd everyone sleep? Terrible? Me too. Every time I closed my eyes all I kept seeing was one of the worst playoff collapses in recent memory. For the first time in 2 years, the Celtics trail in a playoff series. We haven't seen this since the 2023 ECF, which just so happened to start off in an equally frustrating fashion. During my insomnia last night, I also learned that last night was basically a reincarnation of the last time we saw the Celtics play a Game 1 in a title defense season. Remember Game 1 vs ORL in 2009? A 95-90 home loss in which the Celts shot 38/34% (8-23 from deep), turned it over 15 times and Ray and Rondo went a combined 4-24 (1-9)? 

That sound familiar to anyone else?

There were a lot of frustrating aspects to last night's terrible Game 1 loss, especially when you realize how rare of a situation this actually was

As I said in the heat of the moment last night, if you find yourself up 20 points with under 6 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, that is a game you have to win. If you have a 9 point lead entering the 4th quarter, that is a game you have to close. Instead, the Celts had their worst half of the year, and as a whole had one of their worst overall performances in months. They fucked around and found out what happens by doing pretty much everything you cannot do against the Knicks or any playoff team really. 

I've seen a lot of "this won't happen again" type of copium since the final buzzer, and while there is some truth to that, you also have to remember it doesn't matter. It happened. Every playoff game is going to be different, which is why when you have an opportunity to bury a team, you have to do it. Sure, maybe the Celts won't miss every shot they take, but it's also possible that the Knicks play better as well. This wasn't their best performance, look at that Grande tweet. 

The point is, in the playoffs you can't rely on what "might" happen in future games. All the pressure in the world is now on the Celts to avoid falling into a 0-2 hole, which again was completely avoidable if they just didn't play like complete assholes for the final 17 minutes of last night's game. That's how small the margin for error is in a playoff series. One bad quarter, and the entire dynamic of a series can change.

Alright enough stalling, let's dive in.

The Good

- I don't even know what I want to put in this section? Maybe Jrue Holiday looking OK after missing all that time with his hamstring? That made me happy, but it also makes me annoyed as fuck that we wasted a good Jrue performance for the most part. It also tells you everything you need to know about how the Celts played if Jrue moving well off a hamstring injury is really the only positive takeaway. 

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I'm choosing to not mention Jrue's smoked bunnies or his brutal 4th quarter turnovers in this section. We'll talk about that later. Overall, I'd say Jrue gave this team enough and played to the level the Celts are going to need moving forward. I'd like a little less CTE ball considering that's exactly why they traded for him, for these exact moments, but he's way down on the list of issues from last night.

- I would also say the same thing for Payton Pritchard. A solid 13/3/1 on 3-6 (2-5) in his 24 minutes off the bench with some pretty good defense, I'd say Payton filled his role exactly how they need him to as well. He took care of the ball for the most part, was really the only guy who could make a shot early, and he was the only positive bench player (+1) in his minutes.

Like Jrue, Pritchard is way down the list of issues. If anything, you could make the case that he's earned the right to play even more.

- OK, can we move on? My heart wasn't exactly in this section. That's what happens when you choke away a playoff game like this. I feel like we can move on to the real meat of this game.

The Bad

- Kristaps Porzingis has been active for 13 playoff games as a member of the Boston Celtics (shooting 39/26%). I do not think it's a stretch to say that he's been "good" in what, maybe 3? Maybe 2.5? You decide for yourself

This season specifically? The only way to describe KP's playoffs so far is that they have been a complete and utter disaster. When he's been on the floor, he's been awful. Just 10.0 points per game on 32/11% splits in 6 appearances. Last night, he continued to struggle during his minutes, he started 0-4 missing wide open bunnies like this one

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before leaving the game for good in the 2nd quarter due to "illness". Granted, he wasn't on the injury report, so what happened? He got sick during the game? What are we dealing with here that an illness keeps you out of a playoff game? So essentially, even when KP isn't physically injured with a calf injury or an ankle injury like we saw last playoff run, he still can't find a way to stay on the court. Then when he has been on the court, he's been a disaster.

You don't need to be some sort of basketball savant to realize that's a big problem. If you wanted to say the Magic were a bad matchup for him due to his physicality, fine. The Knicks matchup was supposed to work in his favor right? Well what the fuck was that then? Again, he couldn't punish switches, he didn't take a single 3, and frankly,y it didn't feel like they were looking for the Pick & Pop at all, and I'm sorry but this is no longer a small sample. KP needs to wake up and start pulling his weight. He's too important to continue to no show like this.

The entire reason Brad traded for KP was to avoid losses and games like we saw in Game 1. Those scoring droughts where nobody could make a shot? We've seen that before. Brad went out and found an offensive solution for those issues, but the thing is that the solution actually has to play AND produce. KP not being available ended up being a big factor when you look at how the Celts struggled both offensively down the stretch and on the glass. He's supposed to be their cheat code, but in reality he's done way more harm than good.

Coming off his ORL series, I found last night to be extremely disappointing.

- I hated how the Celts started this game. When you play the Knicks, it's crucial that you are on your shit in terms of defending without fouling, taking care of the ball, and rebounding. In the first 6 minutes of this game, we saw the Celts miss every shot they took for the most part, allowed 2 OREB for points, missed 3 FTs and turned it over twice. 

They finished the 1st shooting just 29/28% while really struggling to get stops (47/50%) and in a weird way it was a preview of what was coming. Nobody outside of Jayson Tatum played with a pulse in those opening 12 minutes, and again that's just super disappointing given all the time off, being at home, etc. 

When it was all said and done, the Celts played 12 good minutes of basketball in this game, which came in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, there are 48 minutes in an NBA game. You simply cannot win playoff games against a good opponent by only showing up for a single quarter. They scored just 44 points in the entire second half plus OT!

- I talk so much about the 3 Pillars Of Playoff Pain, mostly because every single Celtics playoff loss since 2020 follows the same script. As a reminder, here are the Pillars

1. Poor outside shooting

2. Poor defensive rebounding

3. High TOs/points off turnovers

OK, so let's see how the Celts did

1. They shot a collective 25% from deep, setting the NBA record for most misses in a game

2. They allowed 12 OREB for 20 2nd chance points, including 5 OREB for 9 points in the 4th/OT

3. They committed 13 TOs for a total of 17 points

Essentially, they failed in all 3 areas, so it's no surprise that the result was a disastrous loss. You can survive one, maybe 2 of those issues with this version of the Celts. But when they hit all 3? They don't win. Period. A total of 37 points off self-inflicted wounds, the worst part was of course, the timing of these issues. When the game was tight and it came time to execute, the Celts struggled in all 3 of these areas, especially the defensive rebounding. You KNOW Josh Hart is going to crash the glass, yet nobody put a body on him all night (5 OREB). Why is this important? Because it led to extra possessions, which led to Knicks buckets in huge moments

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Up 3 with 6 minutes left? This Hart OREB eventually led to a Brunson 3PM to tie

Possession after possession, the Celts were unable to finish their defensive possessions cleanly, and when you do that the Basketball Gods will ALWAYS make you pay. It's why rebounding is so essential to playoff wins. You have to dominate the margins, and last night the Celts did anything but.

- A lot will be made about the Celts 3pt shooting every time they lose a game like this, but let's not forget how pathetic they were on 2pt FGA as well. That usually gets overlooked in losses that include high 3P volume, but it was very much a factor in this result, arguably more than the 3P issue if we're being honest. That stuff can go either way on any given night. But point blank shots? Those have to drop at a MUCH higher rate

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The Celts easily left 8-10 points at a minimum on the board due to their inability to make point blank 2pt 2FGA. Just 16-30 from that zone? While the Knicks didn't reall have any legit rim protection? I mean what the fuck

There's this idea that if the Celts took nothing but 2s, they'd never miss. Well, last night nothing was dropping. Not 3PA, not 3pt FGA, not layups or dunks, nothing. Those are the small details that allow a team to hang around, and once that team has life you get an ending like we saw last night. This team is too good around the rim to struggle like this, and at the end of the day this is how you blow big leads. You need to convert your easy opportunities. 

- OK, everyone ready for the next part? It's gross, but we have to talk through it, we can't pretend it didn't happen unfortunately.

The Ugly

- For as great as both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were in the first half, they were both absolutely atrocious in the 2nd half. A combined 3-18 (2-14) in their second half minutes, on a night where the team needed their two best players to show up down the stretch and carry them to victory, they were outplayed by the Knicks best players. Fact.

Jayson Tatum went 0-7 (0-5) in the 4th quarter. He entered the game with the Celts up 4 with about 9 minutes to go and had one of his worst closing performances of the season. Way too much settling (by his own admission), and way too many possessions where he had a mismatch on the perimeter and then bailed the Knicks out by not making them pay for switching. 

Jaylen Brown wasn't all that better, with just a 1-3 showing in the 4th quarter, but then also 2 brutal turnovers in OT which you simply cannot have.

When it was all said and done, 14-43 (5-25) from your two best players is not going to get it done. It's unacceptable really, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Their decision making offensively was pretty gross, especially Tatum. Way too careless with the ball (5 TOs), nowhere near aggressive enough when it came to attacking the defense, and he shot like shit. When the came called for the stars to step up and win the game, the Celts stars did not meet the challenge. That cannot happen again.

- Alright, the 3pt shooting. As always, it's not really about the number. People will focus on the 60 3PA, but it's really about the process in which those shots were generated. Some of it was admittedly missing wide open looks that you have no problem with anyone taking

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but as we know, not all 3PA are created equal. There's good 3PA off ball movement and touching the paint, and then there's poor 3PA that come via lazy/bad offense. You can miss 3PA and still have it be good process/good shot. That is not determined by the outcome. Here's an example of what that looks like

Good 3PA's

Swinging the ball, touching the paint, this is the Celtics offense at their best.

The flipside of this? 

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Low percentage looks off isolation, quick rushed 3PA when you didn't need it, these are the types of 3PA that get the Celts into trouble. You can live with good process 3PA that result in misses. That's life. But poor process is the killer, and in the 2nd half that's exactly what the Celts did.

They were just 5-23 in the first half, but the process was OK for the most part. The ball was moving, guys were just missing. The second half? It was the exact opposite of how they need to play. So much was made about their 3rd quarter and 19 of their 20 FGA being 3PA, but they did shoot 36.8% in that quarter. The issue is that didn't carry over to the 4th, where they finished just 2-15.

Once the Celts went up 20, it felt like they were going for the homerun knockout punch rather than just throw jabs, and that's what allowed the Knicks to get back in it. Immediately after they went up 20 the Knicks went on a 7-0 run, and from there the collapse was on. Even still, up 9 heading into the 4th should have been more than enough, but once again this team's 4th quarter issues came back to bite them.

- People forget, the Celts spent a large part of the season being the worst 4th quarter team on the planet. You can look that up. I'm just not sure it gets worse than this

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19/13% with 3 TOs while allowing 40/60%. That my friends, is how you puke all over yourself to lose a playoff game you had no business losing. Add in the fact that things got no better in OT and well, you could say the Celts got what they deserved. The same way we saw this team collapse and drop games before the title is exactly how they lost this game last night. That sure is annoying.

- But what perhaps annoys me even more is the defensive mistakes we saw from the 3 best Celtics on the court, all in huge moments. Time after time, we saw White, Jaylen, and Tatum all fall asleep defensively in huge spots. In the final minute of regulation, it was Derrick turning his head and losing his man on the strong side corner for a huge OG 3PM

Jaylen Brown made this same mistake in a huge spot in OT as well, losing Brigdes in the strong side corner for a dagger 3PM

With Tatum, he opened OT by turning his head and losing OG on the break and then committing the AND1 on a play he had no chance of blocking

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3 HUGE defensive mistakes from your 3 best defenders on the floor in high leverage situations is losing basketball. 

So yeah, the shooting was abysmal. Pathetic. Inexcusable. That's all true. But even with all of that, the Celts still had their opportunities to put this game away. But if you lose focus, don't pay attention to the details, and make mental mistakes, you're going to pay the price. That's a tale as old as time.

- I still cannot believe this second half is real

The Celts now enter what I would consider pretty damn close to a must win in Game 2. You cannot go back to MSG down 0-2, and the Celts have no one to blame but themselves for being in this position. Again, they were up 20 with 17 minutes left in the game. You have to close that out. Period.

The good news is this team is resilient as hell, but that resiliency can only take you so far. At some point, you have to execute, and now you're tasked with doing it against a Knicks team that now has new life. This series is far from over, but the margin for error just got much, much smaller.