The Boston Celtics are facing a must-win scenario in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup against the New York Knicks on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Defending champions or not, no team in NBA history has ever managed to win a series after falling into a 3-0 hole, and that reality will be staring the Celtics in the face if they fail to get the job done.
While knocking down some of the wide-open looks that haven't fallen for Boston in the first two matchups of this series will go a long way, Joe Mazzulla's decision-making in late-game situations hasn't helped the Celtics at all and needs to improve.
For one reason or another, Mazzulla elected to play things out in the closing moments of Game 2 rather than call a timeout to draw up a play and advance the ball to midcourt. That strategy could not have worked out worse for Boston, as Jayson Tatum was unable to even get a shot off before time expired, and the Celtics blew yet another big lead.
After the loss, Mazzulla did his best to explain the rationale for leaving that timeout in his pocket and not even attempting to draw up a play to put Boston in the best position to win the game. The explanation, however, seemingly fell short as he placed the blame on Tatum and the other players on the floor for not executing a set the Knicks had just seen.
“Got a good look on the exact same play 20 seconds earlier,” Mazzulla said, via Brian Robb of MassLive.com. “Tried to execute the exact same thing, they did a better job of their lower pick-up point, and we weren’t able to get the advantage that we had on the last Tatum dunk. So good full-court setting, they subbed out Towns, they weren’t able to sub out Brunson, had action there, and just didn’t execute.”
As Robb pointed out, this is not the first time that Mazzulla has lost a playoff game after doing the same thing. During the team's playoff run in 2023, Mazzulla failed to call a timeout to advance the ball during a second-round game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and, similarly, the Celtics did not get a shot off and lost the game.
Rather than owning up to the decision, as he did in 2023, Mazzulla focused on Tatum and the time it took for him to, ultimately, not get a look at the basket when speaking with the media.
“You don’t know that at the point of JT was driving left, thought he had a good look at an angle, didn’t shoot it,” Mazzulla said. “Ran out of time.”
Again, this is not something Mazzulla can nonchalantly brush off, given where things currently stand in this series. The lack of accountability on his part is surprising as well. The clip above shows just how quickly this possession seemed destined for failure, and Mazzulla still elected to let it play out rather than using the timeout he had in his pocket.
The talent is there for Boston to come back and win this series. Mazzulla needs to make sure he is doing his part to put Tatum and the rest of his teammates in positions to be successful though. That is what a head coach is there to do.