Generally, you simply should belief the numbers.
After the primary quarter of Sport 1 towards the Cavaliers on Tuesday evening, the Celtics had a 6-point lead. They’d dominated the primary twelve minutes — even when the rating didn’t precisely replicate it.
“Managing the sport,” Mazzulla mentioned of his group’s skill to remain the course till water reaches its degree. “You’re all the time going to undergo stretches of shot-making and never shot-making. It’s the opposite stuff that places stress — once you flip it over, once you put guys on the free throw line, when you’ve got empty possessions as a result of they’re not good photographs, once you surrender photographs that you just don’t wish to.”
Boston hit simply three of their first ten three-point makes an attempt, however had gotten to the free throw line eleven occasions and dedicated zero turnovers. Cleveland, then again, was 6-of-12 from behind the arc after weathering an early storm — and we’re nonetheless down six.
After which Mazzulla ball math lastly evened issues out. As CelticsBlog’s Michael Spooner not too long ago wrote, “Mazzulla trusted his gamers to not BS their manner via the sequence, to paraphrase Ime Udoka. He didn’t overreact to 1 massive capturing evening. As a substitute, he trusted the scheme and let the Celtics reply.”
The Celtics didn’t shoot significantly better within the second, worse truly. However even with a 3-for-12 exhibiting from 3, they pushed the result in double digits, heading into halftime up 59-49. Jayson Tatum was simply 4-for-12, however Boston was strong on protection and the bench had already contributed 11 factors.
After which the floodgates opened.
Beneath an avalanche of threes, the lead ballooned to as a lot as 26 within the 4th behind Derrick White (4 for 7), Payton Pritchard (3 for 4), Jrue Vacation (2 for 4), and Jaylen Brown (2 for 3). This may need been the backbreaker:
“I find it irresistible. I like buzzer-beating moments – take it off the rebound, go down, it’s an energy-type play,” Pritchard mentioned at follow on Wednesday. “I believe it modified the momentum of the sport, and form of took the wind out of them. That’s why you all the time should shoot.”
JB Bickerstaff mentioned pregame they he wished to carry the Celtics to beneath 40 three-point makes an attempt. There’s some sound logic to that considering. Of their 64-18 common season, they completed 21-8 (72.4% profitable share) in video games the place they shot fewer than 40 threes and 43-10 (81.1%) after they shot 40+ triples. When wholesome, the Cavaliers boast a formidable entrance court docket duo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen and could be completely satisfied to ask groups into the paint.
As CelticsBlog’s Jack Simone mentioned, evaluating Boston to Cleveland’s final opponent, Orlando:
The Celtics usually are not the Magic.
The Celtics tried 42.5 threes per sport within the common season (first within the NBA). The Magic took 31.3 (twenty ninth within the NBA). The Celtics shot 38.8% from behind the arc within the common season (second within the NBA). The Magic shot 35.2% (twenty fourth within the NBA).
It took the Cavaliers seven video games to dispatch a Magic group that was statistically one of many worst three-point capturing groups within the common season. And now, they’re squaring up towards one of the best.
“Dealing with a group like Boston, it’s good to have the ability to play them after which play them once more,” Bickerstaff mentioned after Sport 1. “You’re not used to the velocity, the spacing, the capturing till you go up towards them.”
Per NBA monitoring information, that velocity and spacing produced 39 open to wide-open threes in Sport 1; the Celtics made 15 of them. By comparability, the Cavaliers have been simply 11-of-38 on theirs. These may look like infinitesimal variations that could possibly be made up in different areas of the court docket, however for Boston, they’ve turned a basic math drawback for opposing groups into a sophisticated calculus that neither Miami, Cleveland (to date), and the remainder of the league has solved but.
