After being completely overtaken by the Golden State Warriors in the second game of the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics will look to recover in the third game on Wednesday night. Fortunately for the Celtics, they have been impeccable in doing so this postseason. Boston is 6-0 after a loss in those playoffs so far, and not only have they won, they’ve covered the scatter in each of those games.
Celtics All-Star striker Jayson Tatum, in particular, has stepped up his game after Boston’s defeats in the playoffs this year. In the six games the Celtics have played straight after a loss, Tatum averaged 31.5 points per shot while shooting 50 percent from the court, compared to 23.1 points from 39 per one hundred shots during the defeats.
The fact that the Celtics have been so successful in responding to postseason losses tells you that they have been excellent at identifying and using the right adjustments. Here’s a look at two simple but important fixes the Celtics have to make in Game 3.
1. Limit rotation
The formula has been pretty straightforward for the Celtics in these playoffs. When they take care of the ball, they win. When they don’t care about the ball, they don’t win. They are 12-2 (including seven straight wins) when they spin the ball less than 15 times. For example, they only had 12 balances in the first game against Golden State and were able to come away with a win.
However, the Celtics are only 1-5 when they turn the ball over more than 15 or more times. In Game 2, they had 19 balances, including 15 balance losses. These errors resulted in 33 loss points for the Warriors, and that was a major factor in the result. The Celtics know they have to be better in this area in Game 3, and beyond, but they don’t see it as a schematic problem, but rather a mental one.
“It’s as simple as we have to take care of the ball. We’ve done it and we’re a very good team when we take care of the ball,” Tatum said after the second game. we put up with the losses and dig into a hole. “
The great veteran Al Horford sees the problem as a correctable problem.
“In our victories, we haven’t turned it around; with our losses, we’ve done too much,” Horford added. “It’s something we have to look at this game individually and see how we can be better. … I know we can avoid a lot of them. In order for us to have a better chance of winning, we have to reduce them.”
Fifteen is the figure to watch out for in Game 3. If Boston can keep its total turnover below that threshold, it will maximize its chances of winning and taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
2. Perform better in the third quarter
The third quarter has not been kind to the Celtics until the time of this series. In the first game, they were beaten 38-24 in the third, although they were finally able to get a victory after an incredible performance from the fourth quarter. In the second game, they were beaten 35-14 in the third quarter. In total, they were outscored by 35 points (73-38) in the two-thirds combined.
The Warriors are a notoriously dangerous third-quarter team, but Boston just needs to be better in that setting. After all, this problem is not limited to this series. The Celtics have been beaten by at least 14 points four times in the third quarter of the playoffs, including in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. They were beaten by 25 points in the third quarter of that competition.
Losses are part of the problem, as are defensive intensity lapses, according to Tatum.
“I think tonight, the losses, and I think sometimes letting our offense affect our way of defending, was a bit stagnant in the third quarter,” Tatum said of the second game against Golden State. “It seems to have translated into the defensive end, and they set off and hit shots and things like that.”
Celtics coach Ime Udoka seemed to agree with Tatum’s assessment. “This has been a constant theme in the playoffs so far,” Udoka said of the poor play of the fourth quarter.
“We turned the ball upside down. Take out teams against us in the middle of the court, give them some baskets,” he added. “But it was more of the same in that third quarter. We had 11 for 18 points in that first half and we conceded five or six more in that quarter. It was a bit open, and that also made our offense difficult.”
Since business losses are also a major factor in Boston’s third-quarter struggles, it seems that simply reducing them could solve many of the problems that have affected them so far this postseason. Taking care of the ball should be the top priority for the Celtics in the face of Game 3.