The Boston Celtics went down 4-3 to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, especially after clawing their way back to contention from a 0-3 deficit.
But according to JJ Redick, Boston just wasn’t ready with their head in the game. “I just didn’t see it,” Redick said on The Old Man and the Three.
“The will, the leadership, the competitiveness, and all the stuff from the Boston Celtics. To be honest with you, as a fan of basketball and fan of how the Celtics play when they’re at their best, I can’t say I’m surprised. I almost feel like it’s a fitting end to this season where we’ve seen a lot of Jekyll and Hyde of a team, the good and the bad, and how that manifests itself.”
He further added that the team’s mentality was down the drain, and was one of the pivotal reasons behind their loss to Miami.
The Celtics were a more clinical unit throughout the regular season but struggled heavily against the Heat. “Tactically, I’m trying to wrap my head around this. Boston has trouble scoring. Tatum gets hurt early on. They’re missing threes, they’re shooting a lot of badly contested threes.”
He further added: “On the other end, with the Boston Celtics defense, three times in the first half, Al Horford is on a deep drop, and Gabe Vincent hits a three, Kyle Lowry hits a three, Duncan Robinson hits a three. It was very comfortable for them,” Redick opined.
Draymond Green Echoes JJ Redick Thoughts, Says The Celtics Weren’t Ready
Talking about the Boston collapse, Draymond Green echoed JJ Redick’s sentiments. “The Boston Celtics are who we thought they were. They got to the moment and they did not look like they were ready for the moment. All of a sudden, all the shots were short again,” he said.
“All of a sudden they looked like they couldn’t play basketball with their left hand again. All of a sudden, they looked exactly who we thought they were. Quite frankly, the first thing I said was, ‘They look like it’s Game 1 of the regular season. They look like they did in the closeout game last year.’ You start to question if that becomes your M.O. When it gets tough, what do you do? If you think back on the series, in every game that mattered for them… They actually lost, except Game 6.”
Both Redick and Green have been pretty accurate in their analysis of the Celtics’ loss. Now, it remains to be seen if they can go the distance the following season.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
