1:04 AM ET
-
Tim BontempsESPN
MIAMI – The Boston Celtics found themselves behind the Miami Heat Five on the road in the middle of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night.
And yet, the Celtics felt good. They could not have played much worse in the first half, making 10 losses and giving up nine offensive rebounds to Miami, which allowed the Heat to make 14 more shots.
“We weren’t playing the best we could, in many ways,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “Sometimes all it takes is for a man to get back to his normal game.”
No one played worse than Jaylen Brown. He was 2 of 7 from the field and committed four losses, all in the first quarter.
Then the second part began. And as it unfolded, Brown ended up being the face of the team’s spin.
Brown’s 19-point, 0-point second half, along with an 18-point second half from Jayson Tatum, allowed Boston to finally break what was a rock fight in the first half as the Celtics won. 93. 80 on the Heat, moving Boston to one more victory from its first trip to the NBA Finals in 12 years.
“The same player,” Brown said from the first half to the second. “I just had to settle in. That’s it. As the game fades, some of that energy, some of that intensity starts to go away, so the game opens up a bit. The match opened for me in the second half.
“I didn’t want to go down. I didn’t want to look back, think that this game was over. My team needed me to come out and respond.
“The first half was s —. I threw it away. [Just] go out, play basketball in the second half “.
2 Related
It was unclear if Boston would be able to follow Brown’s instructions after another ugly stretch of basketball in this series for the Celtics in the first half of Game 5. The difference with the other periods in which Boston has come out of The Rails of this series, however, is that the Celtics did not allow the Heat to open the game.
Instead, things were just as ugly for the Miami side of the general ledger. While Tatum and Brown combined to go 10 of 33 in the first half, and the Celtics were throwing the ball, Miami couldn’t hit anything either. His initial backcourt from Kyle Lowry and Max Strus was combined to go 0-of-15 from the field and 0-of-12 from the 3-point range for the game. Jimmy Butler, playing for a knee problem, finished just 4 of 18. And overall, the Heat finished with a sad 7 of 45 from the 3-point range.
“You have to enjoy that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You know, if you want to get ahead and get a ticket to the finals, you’re going to have to do ridiculously difficult things. Getting to Boston and discovering it collectively, these are the emotions and the Advances that you have and that you remember the rest of your life. Take this thing on the 29th. That’s all we talked about there. “
It was a game that, like the rest of this series, will never be called beautiful. But for the Celtics, a team that has built its remarkable mid-season turn around a stifling defense was the latest example of the physique they have been proud of during the playoffs.
“I think the mental stress and tension we put on some teams with our defense has worked and it has taken us through the playoffs sometimes,” Udoka said. “You see in the Brooklyn series, the boys started to wear out. Game 7 [last round against the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis] Antetokounmpo slowed some. But having all these bodies to keep throwing at people wears them out physically and mentally, making it difficult, as long as we don’t give them easy baskets in transition.
“With our guys, we’re always sure they’ll get it up and running and they’ll finally find out.”
Brown and Tatum certainly did in the second half. After those first fights, Brown spent the last three quarters without a turnover. And, in a match screaming for someone, anyone, to take a shot after that brick party of the first half on either side, Brown went up to the plate in the second half.
He hit the last shot of the third quarter (a hard mid-range cube) and the first of the fourth (a triple on the side) to push Boston’s double-digit lead definitely. He made sure to stay there scoring 13 of his points in the fourth quarter with a 5 of 6 shot.
“Only the boys settled in, they were still aggressive, they stopped spinning the ball,” Brown said. “We gave them a lot more shots than we had in the first half. We were only five below. We knew that if we took charge, we would have some open opportunities and we would knock them down.
“So keep playing basketball, be aggressive. That’s why basketball is 48 minutes.”
It was a similar turn for Tatum, who was repeatedly grabbing his shoulder during the first half as he was clearly working on the nervous problem that briefly removed him from the fourth quarter of Game 3.
But Tatum kept trying to make plays for the others in the first half and finally finished the night with 22 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in over 44 minutes, as he, like Brown, finally settled on a rhythm in the second half. progressed.
“Yeah, it bothered me,” Tatum said. “It simply came to our notice then.
“Obviously they are a very good team. Both teams play hard, compete and things like that. But the guys like it. [Derrick] White, obviously [Marcus] Being smart out there, just his presence, and JB made great shots. Everyone contributed from start to finish. “
Now, the series returns to TD Garden, where Boston, on its sixth trip to the conference finals since the last time it reached the NBA Finals, will have a chance to finally take that final step in the league championship round.
But after some playoffs that have already seen so many twists and turns for the Celtics, including the return of the same deficit the Heat are in, losing 3-2 on the road to Game 6, to beat the Bucks in the conference. semifinals – Boston knows its work is not over yet.
“The mentality and talk we had after the game was that the last time we were losing 3-2, we had to get out on the road and win a game 6, and we did,” Tatum said. “We can’t think it’s over. We have to go home as if we were 3-2, with this sense of urgency that is an essential match, without relaxing because we are up.
“Is possible [for Miami to come back]. Obviously we did the last series, so knowing that, talking about it, obviously enjoying it, but not being happy to know that we still have things to clean up, we still have to play better. The work is not over yet. “