Stephen A. Smith criticized the Celtics for their lackluster performance against the Warriors in the second game of the NBA finals. There is a time and a place for it.
The Boston Celtics used a remarkable comeback to overcome their normally disastrous third quarter in the NBA Finals.
In the second game, they had no luck.
The Golden State Warriors blew out the Boston Celtics on Sunday night to even the series at one game each. Poor starts to the second half have been an issue for Boston throughout the playoffs.
"We have to fix it," Horford said.
During the three days between Games 1 and 2, Boston talked a lot about avoiding another ugly third quarter like the one it had to begin this series, as Golden State's 38-24 advantage in the third in Game 1 was erased only thanks to the Celtics turning around and having their own.
In the second game there was no comeback. The Warriors scored 11 points due to five Boston turnovers in the third quarter. Stephen Curry matched Boston's point total by himself, as the Warriors went 7-for-12 from 3-point range.
By the time Jordan Poole buried two bombs from way behind the 3-point line in the final 30 seconds of the third, the damage had already been done.
"I think tonight, turnovers, and I think sometimes letting our offense affect how we defend, kind of was a little stagnant in the third quarter," said Tatum, who led Boston with 28 points in Game 2 but finished a minus 36. I feel like it translated on the defensive side, and they got going and hitting shots.
Boston has struggled in the third quarter throughout the playoffs, as it has been a sore spot for the Celtics. There are some numbers to support that.
Boston has two of the worst third quarters in this year's playoffs: Game 1 against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals and Golden State's 21-point advantage on Sunday.
In the playoffs, the Celtics have been outscored by at least 14 points in the third quarter on four separate occasions. Three of Boston's road losses in the playoffs have been against Milwaukee, Miami and Golden State. The Celtics won the first game of this series.
In the third quarter, Boston was down by 37 points. The Celtics had more turnovers in the third quarter than field goals in the second game of the finals.
In the third quarter of the finals, the Celtics are 4-for-22 on contested looks, and they were 2-for-12 on contested shots. Only the Toronto Raptors, who lost in the first round, were worse than Boston in the third quarter in the playoffs.
After saying over and over that it's time to play better in the third quarter, it's time for the Celtics to actually do so.
They continued to have their third quarter history repeat itself.
"It's frustrating, yeah," White said. We've talked about it a lot throughout the playoffs. It's not hard to talk about, but we need to change something.
It was a quarter that put us away.
Boston's third-quarter problem wasn't the only bad habit the team has. The Celtics tend to struggle because of turnovers. The Warriors scored 33 points off 21 Boston turnovers, the second-most points off turnovers in an NBA Finals game in the last 25 years.
In the playoffs, that's been an ongoing theme, according to Celtics coach Ime Udoka. The ball has been turned over. Give teams some baskets so they don't score against us.
The same thing happened in the third quarter. In the first half, we scored 18 points and gave up five or six. The offense was hampered by the fact that it was opened.
The Celtics made 15 3-pointers as a team in Game 2 after Horford, White and Marcus Smart hit 15 in the first game. The players not named Jaylen Brown went a combined 19 for 19 from deep.
Boston went 15-for-43 from 2-point range and was worse on 2s than on 3s.
The Celtics felt like they missed a chance to save Golden State. They didn't play well in the first half and were down by two points, but they came back in the second half and played better. They played worse in the 3rd.
The Celtics head back to Boston with home-court advantage intact. Boston knows that it needs to improve if it wants to maintain its advantage and that it needs to protect its home court this time around.
Brown said that the past does not matter. It's not important in the past until this moment. Who cares about everything that happened in the last series and the series before?
We have to look at it like we are playing a different team right now. We need to come out and play our best basketball, because we are capable of doing it. We need to come out and do that.
This story was contributed to by the information from the sports network.
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