Celtics

It all stemmed from a practice shot that Tatum wasn't allowed to take after a timeout.

I just took the ball with me to the timeout and I kept the ball the whole time. And most damning of all, he committed four turnovers for the Celtics, who had 18 as a team. As such, Tatum took the ball to the Celtics' bench while Green and Payton dutifully followed.

But to Hall of Famer and current NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors analyst Chris Mullin, the reason behind the Celtics' loss was clear. “They didn't look ready for ...

They also took advantage of the Celtics’ turnovers that turned into 22 points for the Warriors. Meanwhile, Golden State only turned the ball over six times. “They didn’t look ready for prime time,” Mullin said on Warriors Live: Finals Edition. “The Warriors dominated the first quarter and the fourth quarter. And you have to give the Warriors defense credit, I thought Draymond was very aggressive tonight on offense and defense, and Andrew Wiggins was spectacular for the second game in a row.”

In the first four games of the NBA Finals, Golden State progressively tilted its attack toward Curry running high pick-and-rolls. It started Game 5, however, ...

It's a great read by Curry with Smart top-locking him, and it's another perfect pass from Green. But it's also an example of the Warriors getting used to their opponent -- they know that Williams is ignoring Payton, which makes him a dangerous screener. (In fact, he missed all six of his 3-point attempts.) When Curry was cold and the team needed him to bail out a possession, he obliged. In this case, that means Green pushing the pace when the Warriors don't have the numbers and sending a bounce pass exactly where it needed to go to turn a 2-on-3 break into two points -- at exactly the right time. With nine minutes to go and the Warriors on a 13-0 run, Marcus Smart ran a dribble-handoff with Brown way outside the 3-point line. Curry looks at Wiggins after the pass, first pointing at Thompson and then calling for the ball himself. Because the Warriors had nine steals to Boston's two, and five of those Golden State steals led directly to buckets on the other end. After hearing Boston lament its "stagnant" late-game offense in the previous game, this was a tough look. This is my favorite of Curry's eight assists, and it demonstrates why the Celtics have been reluctant to put two on the ball against him. He gives the ball up to Green, who fires a lefty pass to Klay Thompson on the opposite side. Tatum got into the paint with good spacing around him, collapsed the defense, made Andre Iguodala think he was passing to Jaylen Brown in the corner and hit Horford for an open 3. Scoring against the Celtics is exhausting, and they believe that, if they are locked in and limit their mistakes, the opponent will eventually wear down. The Celtics have done a fantastic job defending Golden State's off-ball actions, but that doesn't mean coach Steve Kerr is going to default to static pick-and-rolls.

After their 18-turnover showing in Game 5 of the Finals against the Warriors, the Celtics are now up to 314 turnovers this postseason, good for 13.65 turnovers ...

The Celtics committed four turnovers in each of the third and fourth quarter, with those four in the fourth matching the amount of shots the team made from the floor in the frame. It's been a game-to-game theme, and if the Celtics don't clean it up, it will cost them their best chance at winning a title with this core group. Tatum has been struggling with his shot and has been missing a boatload of looks at the rim, so he's been forcing a lot of his passes. This issue has plagued them all postseason, with the Celtics averaging 16.8 turnovers -- leading to 22.4 points for their opponents -- in Boston's nine losses. And really, the Celtics have no one to blame but themselves. Instead, the Celtics have had a knack for wiggling themselves into those tough spots.

Six runs to The Finals over the last eight years will do that. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart are barely scratching the surface of their primes.

Our faith gotta continue to be there,” Brown said of his confidence facing an elimination game on Thursday. “We gotta play as a team, as a unit. And while Boston was favored in the foul disparity (16-to-28), the team seemingly lost their cool several times during the game. Over the course of the game, we made some good plays,” Brown said. the Bucks). Boston has credited Golden State and their second-best defense in the league, but that bugaboo belongs to them and they know it. On Monday night, the Warriors beat the Celtics 107-97 in Game 5, a contest that further highlighted just how much Boston has to learn from the three-time champions. With Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green well in to their 30’s, they have a wealth of exposure to championship pressure.

The box score for the fourth quarter of Boston's Game 5 loss to the Warriors in the NBA Finals reads as though one team had just awoken from a soothing ...

The Celtics looked like a tired team to close out Game 5, especially their star players, in what was arguably their most important quarter of the season to date. Pritchard has had some good moments in this postseason, but in Game 5, he had a poor start, missing three 3-pointers and committing a turnover in 4:41 of playing time spanning the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. Got away from a little bit what got us back in the game in the third. Credit Udoka, as always, with his honesty—most coaches would refrain from admitting at the NBA Finals podium that his stars were tired, and when asked about it themselves, Brown brushed off the topic and Tatum only mildly acknowledged that, yes, players are more tired at the end of a game than at the beginning. After a third-quarter rally in which Boston was nearly flawless, posting 35 points, there was little left for the fourth for the two Celtics stars. The Celtics, meanwhile, shot 4-for-15 from the field and missed four free throws, added four turnovers and made just two of their seven attempts from inside the paint, for a total of 20 points.

In the Celtics' 107-97 loss to the Warriors in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, they committed 18 turnovers, leading to 22 points for Golden State.

"As you saw in the third quarter, any time we don't get stagnant and go one-against-the-crowd, it can look pretty easy and (we) get the shots we want. "When we're at our best, (it's with) simple ball movement; I think that third quarter showed that, the drive-and-kick was beautiful; it was working, getting guys wide-open shots. Too often, the Celtics slow the pace of play, forcing them to operate against a set defense.

For the second straight game, the Celtics have unraveled in the fourth quarter against the Warriors.

The Celtics weren’t done surging, as they made their first five 3-pointers of the third to take a lead as big as five points. To come back, they blitzed the Warriors at the beginning of the third, erasing all but two points of a 51-39 deficit over the first 1:45 of the period. “So, you know, I feel like that’s part of the reason why our offense hasn’t been clicking like it needs to be.” That’s the part where we got to have carryover, not only game to game but quarter to quarter, where we saw it happened in the third but not the fourth.” After all of that, Horford approached Smart in an attempt to calm him down, knowing the Celtics had lost their cool. It’s something that we have to move on from and be better on Thursday.” It would have taken a fantastic read for White to recognize that Looney’s late closeout left Horford with a lane to the hoop. As much as the Celtics have improved since the middle of the regular season, they still occasionally find themselves back in the same old ditch. We just got to continue to recognize the game, see the game and make in-game adjustments. Take care of the ball when it comes down to it.” With Curry on the bench getting his usual breather to start the final quarter, Boston had an urgency to capitalize on his absence. The Celtics scored just five points over the first eight minutes of the quarter, unable to solve a great Warriors defense when it mattered most.

This team is one of the most undisciplined teams to advance to this stage in quite some time.

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Golden State shut down Boston and overcame Stephen Curry's poor shooting on Monday.

It's a great read by Curry with Smart top-locking him, and it's another perfect pass from Green. But it's also an example of the Warriors getting used to their opponent -- they know that Williams is ignoring Payton, which makes him a dangerous screener. (In fact, he missed all six of his 3-point attempts.) When Curry was cold and the team needed him to bail out a possession, he obliged. In this case, that means Green pushing the pace when the Warriors don't have the numbers and sending a bounce pass exactly where it needed to go to turn a 2-on-3 break into two points -- at exactly the right time. With nine minutes to go and the Warriors on a 13-0 run, Marcus Smart ran a dribble-handoff with Brown way outside the 3-point line. Curry looks at Wiggins after the pass, first pointing at Thompson and then calling for the ball himself. Because the Warriors had nine steals to Boston's two, and five of those Golden State steals led directly to buckets on the other end. After hearing Boston lament its "stagnant" late-game offense in the previous game, this was a tough look. This is my favorite of Curry's eight assists, and it demonstrates why the Celtics have been reluctant to put two on the ball against him. He gives the ball up to Green, who fires a lefty pass to Klay Thompson on the opposite side. Tatum got into the paint with good spacing around him, collapsed the defense, made Andre Iguodala think he was passing to Jaylen Brown in the corner and hit Horford for an open 3. Scoring against the Celtics is exhausting, and they believe that, if they are locked in and limit their mistakes, the opponent will eventually wear down. The Celtics have done a fantastic job defending Golden State's off-ball actions, but that doesn't mean coach Steve Kerr is going to default to static pick-and-rolls.

Andrew Wiggins inspired the Golden State Warriors to a 104-94 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and a 3-2 lead in the ...

He shot 12-for-23 on Monday and found time for a game-high 13 rebounds, completing his second consecutive double-double despite missing all six of his 3-point attempts. Missed 3-pointers were the story of the night, as the Warriors took advantage of Boston misfiring on its first 12 attempts to build as much as a 16-point lead in the first half. Both teams survived long droughts from beyond the 3-point arc only to be separated by just one point through three periods.

San Francisco, US, Jun 13 (EFE).- The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 104-94 on Monday to go up 3-2 in the NBA Finals and move within one ...

However, the Celtics responded in the third quarter with a fabulous 4:19 that allowed them to pull ahead for the first time in the game. At the end of the first quarter, the Warriors had 27 points to the Celtics’ 16 and entered halftime with a 12-point lead. Jayson Tatum, who scored 27 points and 10 rebounds was the top scorer for the Celtics, who must win Game 6 at home on Thursday and Game 7 back in San Francisco on Sunday in order to lift the championship trophy.

The Celtics find themselves with their backs "against the wall" entering Thursday's Game 6 after fading in the fourth quarter Monday night against the ...

I still feel like we have so much better basketball to play that we haven't played in the last two games. A 35-point third quarter when we're moving the ball, getting into the lane, penetrating, kick, getting the wide-open shots we want, we have to have that carry over into the fourth. "We ain't got to win two in one day. Got to win on Thursday. That's all we got to worry about right now." And, while Golden State again deserves credit for how the Celtics fell apart, it also was the latest reminder -- even within a game -- of how wildly this Boston team swings back and forth. "We felt like we had opportunities, kind of started playing like we were playing earlier in the game. This is the time that we look at each other in the eyes and we got to figure it out. We just got to continue to recognize the game, see the game and make in-game adjustments. It was also another game in which both Brown and Tatum got outplayed by a Warrior. Brown was misfiring all night, finishing with 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists but going 5-for-18 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range. "Fatigue could've played a part in that, whether it's physical or some of the decision-making, turnovers there. It appeared there might be a tomorrow, somehow, for Boston after Game 5 -- despite how terribly the Celtics began the game. "Obviously we're a little discouraged after having such a good third to come out in the fourth and not execute like we needed to," Al Horford said.

The two Celtics stars – so instrumental in leading the C's back in the game during a magnificent third quarter – faded down the stretch of a woeful fourth ...

I mean, you’re going to be a little more tired in the fourth than you are in the first quarter. Like I said, I don’t know if it was fatigue affects the decision making a little bit there, or just physically don’t have the burst to finish it off. But they’re certainly playing more than they ever have, carrying a large burden in addition to the uncharted territory of their first Finals experience. “Over the course of the game, we made some good plays. The duo scored or assisted on the Celtics’ first 24 points of the half as they took their first lead and seemed to snatch momentum. Decision making and fatigue could be a part of it, the reason why.” But it all went backwards in the fourth. Went with them a little bit longer, being they got us back in, and tried to use the timeouts for their rest. Tatum was better than he was in Game 4, but was invisible in the fourth quarter. The C’s trailed by 12 after a miserable first half when Tatum and Brown ignited a rally to start the second half. They both played 44 minutes, and both played the entire second half without a rest until there was 1:19 remaining, when Udoka emptied his bench in a 16-point game. “Looked like our decision making waned a little bit in the fourth.

Every game of the NBA Finals is live on Sky Sports: Watch Warriors @ Celtics – Game 6, live on Sky Sports Arena and Main Event, on Thursday night from ...

Poole made a basket at the other end and Boston's five-point from the third quarter turned into an 85-74 deficit. That's the part where we got to have carryover not only game to game but quarter to quarter, where we saw it happened in the third but not the fourth." Udoka, who got a technical early, got heated with official Tony Brothers during a timeout and it just built from there. The drive and kick was beautiful, was working, getting guys wide-open shots. Definitely now, our backs are against the wall, and we have to see what we're made of." Then they could not miss and turned the game around.

On this day, former Boston Celtic wing Bruce Bowen and point guard Rick Brunson were born.

The Celtics won 134-127 in double overtime. Bowen played his collegiate ball with Cal State Fullerton and was signed by the Miami Heat in 1997 after several stints playing overseas, having gone undrafted in the 1993 NBA draft. With Boston, the Californian would slowly establish a reputation as a defensive stalwart, eventually earning an All-Defensive Second Team nomination.

SAN FRANCISCO - Andrew Wiggins scored 26 points as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Boston Celtics 104-94 to move within one win of a seventh NBA ...

"I think Steph was probably due for a game like this," Kerr said. Wiggins led the Warriors scorers while Klay Thompson provided support with 21 points including five three-pointers. "That's the part where we got to have carryover, not only game to game but quarter to quarter, where we saw it happened in the third but not the fourth." He loves the competition. "He loves the challenge. It was the first time in Curry's playoff career he has failed to score a three-pointer and the first time he has drawn a blank from beyond the arc in any NBA game since 2018.

The Celtics got hit with two technicals in Game 5, with one coming at a pivotal point in the fourth quarter. Read more on Boston.com.

The Celtics will have to keep their attention though on the Warriors following the Game 5 loss. “Down one going into the fourth quarter, just got to focus on what’s important at the time. “I think it was a little bit of that throughout the game. It’s something that we have to move on from and be better on Thursday.” When the Celtics got set to in-bound the ball following the foul, Smart battled for position with Poole. The Warriors’ guard appeared to exaggerate the contact Smart made with, drawing an offensive foul call on Smart. Their head coach was the first guilty party of complaining too much to the officials.

Monday's loss marked the first time the Celtics lost two straight games all postseason. Read more on Boston.com.

Got to win on Thursday. That’s all we got to worry about right now.” I mean, you’re going to be a little more tired in the fourth than you are in the first quarter. “We just got to win one game on Thursday. We’ve been in this situation before. They played two of them against the Bucks after going down 3-2 in that series. We ain’t got to win two in one day,” Tatum said. As the Celtics missed shots and turned the ball over, the Warriors got off to a 24-8 lead at one point in the first quarter – which was later negated by the Celtics’ run in the third quarter that gave them the lead. “We come out each and every night and try to do the best job we possibly can. “I wanted to be on the floor. “I just got to not fade as much. They scored just five points in the first eight-plus minutes of the fourth before scoring 20 points on 4-of-15 shooting for the period. “I had a couple shots that were short,” Tatum said. “Over the course of the game, we made some good plays.

For the first time in a long time, Golden State's Curry couldn't hit a single 3-pointer. His teammates had better luck with their shots.

When Celtics forward Jayson Tatum knocked over Payton with just under four minutes left in the game, Payton put his palms on the ground and began to do push-ups. The whole notion of this guy doesn’t, he doesn’t have help, well, you’ve got 43, he’s going to keep shooting, and we’re going to do all that we can to get him shooting it.” In the days between Games 4 and 5 he watched film with a dual purpose: He wanted to see what worked so he could try to replicate it. “His vert and his ability to slide in front of the ball, obviously we know where that came from: from his pops. “For us to still go into the fourth quarter with the lead, that’s huge. It was also a 104-94 victory that gave Golden State a 3-2 lead in the finals and a chance to win a championship in Boston on Thursday. They held the Celtics to just 94 points, and scored 22 points off Boston’s 18 turnovers. He had a block in the first quarter when he smacked the ball away from Celtics guard Jaylen Brown. Wiggs is Andrew Wiggins, who once was called a bust when some thought he couldn’t deliver on the promise of being a No. 1 overall pick in the draft. But his vert is something special, and his improved jump shot has also been a huge weapon for us.” Reliant on Curry for the first four games of this series against the Boston Celtics, Golden State showed its ability to succeed even when his shot wasn’t working. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier after a 0-for-whatever type of night,” Curry said later.

Let's remember that each player on the Celtics' 17 championship teams was rather fatigued when it was over. It's just that it never came up.

The coach being asked about fatigue and not taking the opportunity to point out that it’s the NBA Finals? Let’s remember that practically every member of the Celtics has talked about looking up to the rafters at TD Garden and being inspired by all the championship banners and retired uniform numbers. What this means, alas, is that the Tatum Referendum — Superstar? Not a superstar? (That, and the jet-laggy Celtics falling behind 24-8 right out of the gate.) “We ran them obviously a longer stretch to get back in the game in the third. Went with them a little bit longer, being they got us back in it, and tried to use the timeouts for their rest.”