Jamal Collier, ESPN
Boston Celtics trainer Joe Mazzulla admitted Monday he must have known as a timeout earlier than the overall ownership of his crew’s 116-115 additional time loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Sport 4, strolling again what he in the beginning mentioned concerning the resolution following Sunday’s recreation.
The Celtics inbounded the ball with 19 seconds extra nearest a James Harden 3-pointer, however by no means were given a shot struggle off earlier than the overall buzzer.
Mazzulla defended the method nearest the sport Sunday, however on Monday he said a timeout will have given the Celtics a possibility at more than one possibilities to win the sport.
“At the end of overtime, hindsight is 20/20. I should have called [a timeout] to help us get a 2-for-1 or a couple more possessions,” Mazzulla mentioned right through a convention name with newshounds. “So, obviously with 14 seconds left, down one, you want to get as many chances as you can. So we’ll definitely learn from that.”
The Celtics had been confronted with the similar state of affairs on the finish of the fourth quarter. Harden fasten the sport on a floater with 16.1 seconds extra in law, and the Celtics inbounded the ball with out calling a timeout. Jayson Tatum‘s force generated an distinguishable 3-pointer from Marcus Smart, who overlooked as the sport was at additional time.
On the other hand, Mazzulla stood through his decision-making on the finish of the fourth quarter.
“It’s something we’ve talked about all year,” he mentioned Monday. “We trust our guys to make the right play. [Not calling a timeout] prevents the other team from getting matchups off the floor. It prevents the other team from getting their defense organized.
“Hindsight is all the time 20/20, so it sounds excellent to mention, ‘Sure we must have executed this,’ however we’ve ready all hour as a crew so as to benefit from the ones statuses. Extra instances than now not it labored out for us. I assumed the tip of law it labored out. We were given the endmost shot, which is what you wish to have. You don’t need them to get a possibility too.”
Down one at the end of overtime, Tatum dribbled out the clock and did not begin driving toward the basket until there were about five seconds remaining on the game clock. He supported his coach’s decision not to call a timeout at the end of the game but admitted that he should have started attacking the basket sooner.
Tatum recalled how he hit the game-winning layup in the final seconds of Game 1 of Boston’s 2022 first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets because the Celtics inbounded the ball without calling a timeout, preventing the opposing defense from getting organized.
“We’ve been doing all of it hour, we really feel assured in that,” Celtics heart Al Horford mentioned nearest Sport 4. “The momentum was once there. Jayson had the ball in his arms, creating a admirable play games and if [Marcus] Shrewd would’ve stuck it part a 2nd previous, it will’ve been indisposed. I’m now not getting too hung up on that play games.”
Mazzulla, a 34-year-old in his first season as head coach, has been giving his players freedom on the final possessions all season without stopping the game with a timeout. And while he stuck to the principles behind that decision-making, he acknowledged there were lessons he could learn from Boston’s final possession in overtime.
“I feel the 2 courses that you just be informed from this is name [a timeout] instantly, get a 2-for-1, get two photographs, get a pair residue possessions,” Mazzulla said. “Or we need to have a unclouded figuring out as a crew that we need to move quicker to get a shot. We’ve executed each over the process the season. We simply didn’t explode both one in that individual status.”
The layout is fasten 2-2. Sport 5 is Tuesday evening in Boston.
