MIAMI — As the Heat raced up court, continuing to run away from the Celtics on a play early in the third quarter Sunday night, Jimmy Butler watched as Gabe Vincent pulled up and drilled another 3-pointer.
It put the Heat up 23 points. Joe Mazzulla, mercifully, called a timeout. And then Butler got on one knee in front of Al Horford, and flashed the “T” timeout sign at him, a response to what Horford did earlier in the series.
The Heat were just trolling the Celtics at this point.
They were already embarrassing them, humiliating them, whatever description you wanted to choose, and the worst hadn’t even come yet. The Celtics trailed by as many as 33 in the third quarter. They were thoroughly dominated. It looked as if they had quit. It was over well before Mazzulla pulled most of the starters out to start the fourth quarter, as they threw the towel.
Not even the Celtics’ backups put up a fight
With their season on the line, the Celtics submitted their worst effort of the season in a spineless 128-102 loss in Game 3 to the Heat here at the Kaseya Center.
Down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals after dropping the first two games at home, the Celtics knew they had to have this game. Hours before tip on Sunday morning, Jayson Tatum acknowledged the success they’ve had on the road in the postseason as a byproduct of their sense of urgency in such situations.
“Usually when we go on the road, this year and last year, we’ve had no other choice,” Tatum said. “It was either win or the season was over with. It’s kind of the backs against the wall, gotta figure it out.”
The Celtics did not figure it out, and now their season is almost assuredly over.
No team in NBA history has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Some optimists may point to the 2004 Red Sox, who faced the same circumstance after a similarly devastating 19-8 defeat in Game 3 before reeling off four consecutive wins over the Yankees. But these Celtics don’t possess that same mental fortitude that willed the Red Sox.
The Celtics have one more game to at least save their pride and dignity.
How could it all have gone this wrong?
When the Celtics needed them the most, their two All-NBA players delivered an epic no-show. Tatum scored 14 points. Jaylen Brown mustered just 12. They combined to go 1-for-14 from 3-point range, part of a putrid 10-for-38 effort as a team. Their defense was, once again, abysmal. The undrafted Gabe Vincent outscored Tatum and Brown combined, erupting for 29 points on 11-for-14 shooting.
It all unraveled for the Celtics in the third quarter, when they simply couldn’t stop the Heat. They trailed by just seven before Miami took complete control with a 27-12 run that seemed worse. Bam Adebayo was dunking over everyone. The Heat’s role players were hitting everything. Marcus Smart picked up a technical during a ruthless stretch, an awful combination of bad offense and defense at the worst time.
The Celtics never recovered.
Other takeaways and notes from the loss:
– The Celtics got a big call at the end of the first quarter that looked like it could spark them. They fell behind by 10 in the final minute of the opening period when Robert Williams was whistled for his third foul on a charge on a potential three-point play. But Mazzulla made a call to use his challenge early and it was successful. Williams’ third foul was wiped off, his basket counted, and the Celtics trailed by eight.
But the C’s didn’t create any momentum from the sequence, as the Heat’s role players got hot and they took over in the second quarter, before Williams picked up his third midway through the period.
– The Heat’s trio of Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson combined for 41 points on 12-for-18 shooting in the first half, as the Celtics lacked effort and details on the defensive end and let them get free for many open looks. The Celtics weren’t even getting beaten by Miami’s best. Jimmy Butler only had two points when the Heat took a 46-32 lead in the second quarter.
– Brown couldn’t have played much worse in Games 1 and 2 of this series, but he looked like he was on a mission to start Game 3. He was aggressive, got to his mid-range shot with ease and made four of his first six shots. But then he cratered. He fell to the floor on a drive from the basket, and was furious – as well as the rest of the Celtics – that he didn’t get a call,
Brown’s shot didn’t look right after that. He missed six of his final seven shots of the half, including an air-ball on a wide-open look from 3 with 1:07 to go in the first half.
– Towards the end of the first half, the Celtics double-teamed Butler on a pair of possessions and forced turnovers that led to easy points, as they cut their deficit to a manageable 15 at halftime. Where was that coverage in the first two games of the series?