https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_Rg4IzaM0
So I re-watched the last five minutes of game 3. I have to say that was some of the most balanced, excellent late game play that we have seen from the Celtics in a while (I guess since the game 1 heroics haha). What really stood out to me was that every guy in the starting lineup hit clutch shots to help us with the comeback. Dwhite hits a big 3 pointer to get the lead down to 4. JT I think had two 3's. JB had the dunk on Turner, and then another tough jumper with Turner in his face. Al had the big 3 from the behind the back pass from JT and another tough running hook shot. Jrue had a layup, then the other tough 3 point play against Siakam that drew the foul. Then Jrue had the play of the game by getting the steal. I don't know if I have ever seen such a well balanced attack, in that EVERY guy made huge plays that were all key to the big comeback. It was amazing.
The def as a whole got better and better as the game got tighter with less time left in the 4th. Just a really impressive comeback by the C's. I know some of us are going to say we shouldn't have gotten so far down anyways, but Indiana was playing excellent, high level offense, every guy moving, the ball humming. Pacers played great. But the C's just had another gear on def in the last few minutes, and EVERY guy in the lineup was clutch.
This year feels different than the last few years. I really enjoy watching this team, and they seem to have solved the 'we are going to take the foot off the pedal for a while' issue. I am not saying we are winning a title for sure, but it feels like we will finish Indy out, and we are going to be a handful for Minn or Dallas if we make the finals. GO CELTICS. Great win.
Sometimes we as fans don't give enough credit to the opposition, because we focus on our own team we think "if we play at our best" we should always dominate. Because as
@gift mentioned in this thread this team has made the game look easy at times this year so in a way anything less than a wire-to-wire dominant win by 20+ feels like they didn't play well. But the reality is that other teams will also play well, and we won't always play at our best, either because of our own ineptitude or because the other team is stopping us playing at our best.
In today's NBA that margin can come down to someone from the other team having a career game (Nembhard), them shooting really well, aided or unaided by us (63% in the first half) or catching fire from 3 (the Heat last year and the Cavs at times this season). Or our team shooting bad or making mistakes, or one of those things. They are some of the best ball players in the world but people make mistakes, just like we do in real life. Runs happen in basketball all the time.
To me the key is for them to keep their heads up, not get discouraged by misses, continue to defend hard make or miss (which is what they did in the 2nd half after Joe gave them a spray in a timeout to stop feeling sorry for themselves) continue to put the effort in even when you make mistakes or miss...I know when someone misses a few shots we all scream at them to stop shooting but I think it should be the opposite...if the shots are good quality they should maintain confidence and keep shooting. Imagine if Al had decided or been told by Joe or his team to stop shooting 3s after his Game 1 disaster - we wouldn't have had this game where he shot 7-12.
As long as they have the resilience to recover from bad periods of the game, or runs by the opposition, then those dips can be overcome. It's who is leading at the end of the game that matters
Topic: ECF Game 3 - Last five minutes was special (Read 694 times)