Celtics’ season-long problems coming back to haunt them against Miami – Boston Herald

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) knocks the ball away from Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

At this late stage of the season, a painful Celtics loss needs no explaining.

They all follow the same script.

Meandering mid-game offense. Crumbling down the stretch. A lack of urgency that reveals itself on defense and the glass.

Fire away at Jayson Tatum for again failing to make a fourth-quarter field goal if you want. Or sling arrows at the shooters who couldn’t pull the Celtics into a series tie Friday night.

But the blame, the shock, the pain of Friday night’s Game 2 loss in the Eastern Conference Finals to Miami fell on coaching.

The playoffs are for problem-solving. Adjustments quarter to quarter and game to game. Boston’s late-game offense, save for occasional Tatum heroics, remains a mess. The Celtics have failed to solve their season-long problems, and now these flaws could be fatal.

Gut-check time arrived Friday with 4:57 left, when Bam Adebayo canned two free throws to bring the Heat within four after a slog of a slugfest. Jaylen Brown traveled on the next possession. Second later, Heat punching bag Duncan Robinson beat Brown back door for a layup. 98-96 Boston.

Then, Grant Williams missed a 3, Brown wrestled away an offensive rebound and predictably got stuffed in the face of a triple team. Miami didn’t punish the Celtics immediately, thanks to a Jimmy Butler offensive foul at 4:06 remaining. But barely a minute later Butler tied the game on a floater over Williams after successfully hunting him on a switch and clearing out the right side of the floor to feast on his prey.

Williams had asked for it, trash-talking Butler, the most proven playoff performer on the floor Friday night. But the trash talk is secondary to Williams being on the floor.

Coach Joe Mazzulla allowed that to happen, hoping the barrel-chested Williams could split the difference between a double-big lineup that protected Boston against Miami’s ferocious rebounding (the Heat grabbed 34.7% of available offensive boards to the Celtics’ 18.6%) and provide enough shooting with fellow big Al Horford to stay potent offensively. He failed on both fronts.

Prior to Butler’s game-tying jumper, Williams spun around and around inside the paint against Adebayo and forced a bad miss. After Butler’s make, Marcus Smart committed a bad turnover, and Butler hunted Williams again for a baseline shot. Splash.

Trailing 103-100 with under two minutes to play after a Max Strus free throw, Brown punctuated one of his worst games with a drive and kick to no one. His errant pass found Horford, who dished to Tatum, who drove into trouble and committed a charge.

The Heat recollected two missed shots on their next trip, and Adebayo flushed a put-back dunk. Tatum lucked into foul shots on his next two possessions around dribbles off his foot and Butler’s. Gabe Vincent put the game away with a shocking jumper over Tatum.

Mazzulla got killed after Game 1 for failing to call timeouts. He called some Friday. It didn’t matter. The thing about timeouts is they can only stop what’s already been started.

They can’t jumpstart something that feels dead. Even half-hearted reasons for optimism — like the Celtics punched back and Tatum played an all-around game — aren’t encouraging.

Tatum did finish with 34 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Before the fourth quarter, the Celtics couldn’t survive without him in the second and couldn’t score without his help in the third. He opened with two assists in Boston’s first few baskets, his playmaking a strong bellwether for the Celtics offense.

Tatum added two more assists in the third, hitting Rob Williams on a short roll that led to foul shots and Smart for a big corner 3. Tatum added more in the fourth.

Brown was an unfixable mess. He targeted Adebayo, a lifetime member of the All-Defense team, in isolation and failed. He got stuffed on a put-back against a triple-team late in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Horford, Smart and Brogdon combined for 22 points, and couldn’t pull their weight.

To win in Miami, the Celtics must show something they haven’t shown yet.

What are the odds?

Probably lower than the 3% chance ESPN analytics gave the Heat to win this series days before they flew back to Miami feeling 97% confident they can close this out.