PHILADELPHIA — Twice, the Celtics had a chance to win Sunday’s Game 4 with a game-winning shot on the final play. They came up short both times.
One common denominator? They chose not to call a timeout in both instances.
With an opportunity to win the game in regulation, the Celtics generated a great look when Jayson Tatum found Marcus Smart for a wide-open 3-pointer that bounced off the rim to send it to overtime.
Then, after James Harden’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in the extra session, the Celtics didn’t call timeout. The decision backfired. They were too slow, and it cost them. Tatum found Smart on the wing, where he hit the shot. But it came after the buzzer.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has empowered his players all season in these moments to make a play without the need to call timeout. But it didn’t work this time.
“We’ve been doing it all year,” Al Horford said. “We feel confident in that and I felt like that was the right thing. The momentum was there. Jayson had the ball in his hands making a great play. And if Smart would have caught it half a second earlier, it would have been down. I’m not getting too hung up on that play.”
The C’s, by their own admission, didn’t execute the final play in overtime quickly enough. The possession started with 18 seconds to go, but by the time Tatum took a step forward to begin a pick-and-roll action with Derrick White, there were less than five seconds left. Tatum drove to the basket, drew a double team and almost every Sixer crashed on him with less than two seconds left. He kicked it out to a wide open Smart, but by the time he caught it, the clock ticked under a second.
It was too late.
“I waited a second too late when they came and doubled,” Tatum said. “When Embiid came over, I tried to kick it out but I probably should have went and probably dribbled it too early.”
“That was the play, we just had to play with a little bit more pace,” Mazzulla said. “We had the right matchup. Jayson got downhill and made the right play at the rim. We just had to play with a little bit more pace there, but that was the play.”
Hindsight is certainly 20/20 in these situations. As Tatum pointed out, there are pros and cons to calling a timeout as opposed to not. He remembered a game-winning play during last season’s playoff run that worked out when they didn’t call timeout.
“I’m sure you guys know if you call a timeout they’ve got a chance to set up their defense,” Tatum said. “There’s times you feel confident that you’re going to get a good shot. You’ve just gotta trust in the guys on the floor are gonna make the right plays. I should have passed it probably a second earlier. But in regulation we got a great shot. I got in the paint, drew two guys and found Smart.”
Are those situations when Mazzulla trusts the Celtics to make a play, empowering?
“I guess it’s empowering a lot,” Tatum answered. “I mean, (expletive), we did it at times last year, right? We played Brooklyn in Game 1. We didn’t call a timeout, we made a layup on the last play. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. But we’ve got a good core group of guys that know how to play under pressure in those situations. And it just doesn’t always go your way.”
The Celtics’ slow start on Sunday – they trailed by 16 in the first half, and the only reason they hung around was the hot starts of Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon – can largely be attributed to Tatum, who missed his first eight shots and didn’t score a point until he hit a jumper with 30 seconds left in the second quarter.
But Tatum answered the bell when the Celtics needed hin in the fourth quarter, and his play on both ends keyed the comeback. He had two blocks – including a key swat on a Georges Niang 3-point attempt that led to Tatum’s game-tying layup – and had several big rebounds and hustle plays. He also hit a huge go-ahead 3-pointer with 38 seconds left in overtime.
“I get paid a lot of money. I do it all. Assists, blocks, rebounds, steals,” said Tatum, who finished with 24 points. “Points are just what people expect but I take pride in impacting the game every way possible.”
Mazzulla loved Tatum’s response.
“It was great,” the coach said. “When he played with that mindset, he didn’t let the fact that he wasn’t scoring affect his defense and his mindset, so I thought his presence was great, and I thought he chipped away. I thought the whole team did.
Mazzulla used Saturday’s off night in Philadelphia in a productive manner. With the Red Sox also in town for a three-game series against the Phillies, Mazzulla went to the game at Citizens Bank Park and had a chance to meet and chat with manager Alex Cora during batting practice. As a coach chasing his first championship, Mazzulla sought advice from Cora, who’s won titles as a player and manager.
“I was grateful,” Mazzulla said. “I never had a chance to meet him, and I know he’s been in this position as a player and as a coach, so he’s managed success and it was great just to spend some time with him, and just kind of pick his brain on some of the stuff that was important to him through his runs and kind of what he’s doing, so it’s great to have that resource.”
Cora enjoyed his time with Mazzulla.
“He asked me a lot about ‘18. A lot,” Cora said. “How do you handle it, the family part of it. I think my biggest advice, (was) enjoy it as a family. I know his wife was here. Just have a blast with them because you don’t know what can happen, you know? And I told him for me, it was like Legion baseball. My mom and my sisters and everybody was traveling all over the place. It was expensive. But we didn’t care. We had a blast.
“He’s in a good spot. He’s a good guy. I respect the fact that he’s very consistent in what he does. There’s a lot of conviction behind him and I think that’s what they needed and hopefully they can pull this off.”