After trailing the series 3-2, the Celtics came back to win their second-round series against the Sixers in seven games. Veteran big man Al Horford is stressing the importance of playing with a sense of urgency to his younger teammates, he tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com.
“If you look at it, the reality is that even though a lot of younger guys think they have opportunities and will have more of them, these doors close,” Horford said, drawing out those last three words before adding, “You know what I’m saying?
“So when we’re in these positions, I think everybody is starting to understand that, you know, even though, ‘Oh, I’m young. I have time,’ and this and that, it’s not guaranteed that you’re going to be in these positions. That’s something that I feel like we understand, and that’s why we’re trying to make the most of it.”
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- Along those same lines, fellow big man Robert Williams says the Celtics can’t keep digging themselves out of holes after dropping Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Heat. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll come out ready to play in Game 2,” Williams said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “But the problem is we can’t keep relying on that. We can’t rely on our backs being against the wall. There’s no time for it. We have to fix it.”
- Both Horford and Marcus Smart cited poor spacing as a deciding factor in Game 1, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “We get tired of doing the little things sometimes. I think that showed exactly what we was talking about earlier, our spacing,” Smart said. “We have a lot of great players, but when we’re all on top of each other, nobody can be great. You’ve got a good defensive team like Miami, they’ll make you pay for that.”
- Joe Mazzulla‘s reactive coaching style could cost the Celtics the series if he remains passive when the Heat are making big runs, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe opines (subscriber link). Washburn notes the key difference in the game was the third quarter, which Miami won by 20 points, and Mazzulla didn’t switch anything up despite Boston getting thoroughly outplayed.
- Mazzulla chose to give guard Payton Pritchard minutes in Game 1 over forward Grant Williams, an impending restricted free agent. He explained the decision Thursday, tweets Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “We have a plan to use the depth that we need in order to give us the lineups that we think can really help us,” Mazzulla said. “…I thought Payton gave us an opportunity with his shooting, with his playmaking, his pick and roll defense. …Grant is always going to be ready. And we’ve built a lot of versatility and depth in our lineup where we can go a lot of different ways. We trust that anybody that we call in will be ready.”
Joe Mazzulla is a terrible coach, blessed with the league’s best collection of talent. They talk about their depth, then play basically 7 players. There is no reason why Grant Williams is not getting 15-20 minutes a game. There is also no reason why Al Horford is playing 35-40 minutes a game. Also no reason to not use timeouts given that the opponent goes on big runs.
Totally agree, let’s hope they’ll change that.
Darvin Ham is also a rookie coach but he did fantastic job and he’s not afraid to make adjustments during the game.
Mazzulla is just too stubborn unfortunately.
Heat couldn’t deal with their lineups last year with Grant Willaims and Horford, or just Horford at the 5, and have arguably less to deal with it this year, yet we didnt see much of that at all, and Grant Williams didnt even play…
As a Heat fan, please let the Celtics use the same rotation as they did in game 1 during the rest of the series…obviously assuming the Heat tweak a couple of things themselves, with Zeller playing for some reason in this matchup, and not Highsmith…
Like I said, Miami clearly the better team. Hopefully they can keep overcoming the terrible lopsided foul calls.
Everyone was shooting over Pritchard! Celtics need a better coach!
I said they need a better coach and a center. I told you all so
I would rather have Lorenzo Williams than Robert Williams. Same player
Both grant Williams or Hauser!!! Are better options than Pritchard, they have enough handlers.
Joel Embiid for Jaylen Brown, Rob Williams and a first round pick.
Celtics then line up
White Smart Tatum Gallo Embiid
Brogdan G Will Horford
Couple rotational guys for the vets min in FA.
Celtics: Pass. No thanks
Just wait and see.
Media noise will grow.
Celtics will fall to Miami, noise will come back can Tatum and Brown win together, are they a good fit, they need more etc etc Jaylen need a new deal and might want out of the Tatum Shadow.
Tatum And Embiid would be the best duo in the league above Booker and KD and above LBJ and AD
Celtics: Still no thanks! Celtics management is not stupid to trade their young for the olds. Celtics would rather keep their young’s than trade them.
Joking. Yeah great trade idea
How about Brown, Horford, galo and every 1st for Joel.
Celtics: No thanks. We know Brad Stevens like the young talents. But if it’s Giannis, then go.