BOSTON — The Celtics fans in attendance for the team’s season finale wanted to explode. Desperately. A performance like this would’ve resulted in irreverent boos and a desire for change as recently as five months ago. As Boston fell behind by 22 points midway through the loss that would end its season, the fans only turned briefly toward that same dissatisfaction. Despair, instead, dominated the night at TD Garden as the Warriors delivered repeated blows to undercut comeback attempts. A Celtics team whose base fell in love with them, despite all their warts, maintained their support through an unfitting finish. One the players will collectively need to answer.
“Don’t come back the same,” Ime Udoka told the Celtics in an emotional locker room. “As players, coaching staff and let this fuel you throughout the offseason into next year.”
A 103-90 win that lifted the Warriors dynasty to their fourth championship in eight years after a two-season postseason hiatus could more accurately be described by the 101-76 run that closed it, which reached 21-0 and 52-25 at its most devastating points. The Celtics never competed as closely as the final score showed, aided by second half Warriors stagnancy and a shooting surge of Boston’s own. Golden State appropriately sprinkled in buckets when needed, including Draymond Green’s first two three-pointers of the season, and never allowed Boston to draw closer than eight in the second half.
Steph Curry poured in three finishes around the rim, providing four of Golden State’s nine makes in the frame before walking away with his first Finals MVP. The champagne had plenty of time to cool, rumored Encore festivities came to fruition. The duck boats knew they’d see another winter before another championship early. A long summer awaits these Celtics first.
“Our level of poise (needed to improve) at times,” Tatum told CLNS Media post-game. “Throughout this series and other series, myself included, taking care of the ball. Things like that. It’s easy to look back and say all the things we could’ve done better. We tried. I know that for a fact.”
Boston couldn’t have began the game stronger, piling up stops and building a 12-2 lead that kept the crowd on its feet, however shaky the foundation. A difficult Jaylen Brown pull-up jumper. Marcus Smart driving past Green, then posting Curry deep into the lane and firing a pass to Brown for three. Tatum’s repositioning off an initial drive-and-kick into a three resembled the ball and player movement Udoka dreamed of upon ascending to Boston’s head coaching role (66.7 AST% led all playoff teams). The difficulty reality the Celtics faced, despite all their playmaking progress, showed itself again in the 22 Boston turnovers that followed. The lights literally went out for a moment at TD Garden shortly after Golden State’s first timeout.
Brown committed the first trying to force a pass to Smart trying to continue a post-up effort that helped force an early foul on Curry and pair on Klay Thompson. Horford drew free throws forcing himself into the lane on the first possession of the game, then entered the Celtics into the bonus less than halfway through the quarter. Tatum immediately launched a step-back jumper on the next play. Boston shot two free throws the rest of the quarter, coming on an actual shooting foul on an risky entry pass to Robert Williams III. Williams III missed an alley-oop, got beat off the dribble by Curry on a switch, Smart faced foul trouble of his own and Gary Payton II put back his own missed jump shot uncontested shortly after. The Celtics only led by four.
The run mounted. Green hit a three. Then Curry. Then Jordan Poole off glass. Payton II nearly added another on a long heave after a frantic Celtics possession. Golden State somehow led after one quarter, 27-22. Two more Poole threes. The groans mounted following each. An Andrew Wiggins run out following Derrick White’s miss at the basket the other way. Udoka called two timeouts one minute apart only two minutes into the second quarter. The Celtics already trailed by 15.
Grant Williams visually dug into the team, Tatum slumping back in his seat. An ESPN sideline report noted Smart and Brown challenging their teammate’s demeanors in the face of another Warriors run. The Celtics had led Game 4 with five points with five minutes remaining, on the verge of a 3-1 lead in the series. Golden State outscored them 228-190 the rest of the way. Curry happened, but not in Game 5. The common thread became the Warriors’ defensive ability to rattle the Celtics. They got up in the previous two rounds after flirting with earlier exits. This time the opponent had too much reliable help, from Otto Porter Jr. through Kevon Looney.
“I just gave (Tatum) a hug,” Brown said. “I know it was a tough last game. Obviously, it was a game we felt like we could’ve won. It stings that we kind of didn’t play to our potential. This game, our last game on our home floor, but it is what it is. You’ve got to learn from it and move on. As tough as it is, it’s been a great year, been a great journey, at the start of the season nobody thought we would be here, and we’re two wins from doing something special. Everybody’s like, ‘man, we really could’ve did it. We really had the opportunity.’ Yeah, we did, but it just wasn’t our time.”
Green woke up as the series went on, finding his lanes to the rim as Boston turned up the pressure on a red-hot Curry who torched their drop defensive scheme. His 43 points broke the Celtics’ formula, but 43 Boston turnovers to close out the series did far more damage. Nobody could shut them off on a team full of ball-handlers. Tatum broke the postseason record with 100 and started possessions late.
Brown struggled to dribble and drove to nowhere all series, despite a spirited second-half outburst leading Boston’s comeback effort. Smart made baffling decisions all series. White became unplayable after joining the Celtics at the deadline as what Brad Stevens dubbed a perfect fit. Grant, a constant outlet for Tatum all season and Game 7 hero, watched most of the team’s final two second halves from the sideline as well. Udoka said pre-game the bench couldn’t play worse than in Game 5. They narrowly improved from one basket to two.
When Curry launched a three-pointer from nearly half court over Smart and Williams III early in the third quarter, the agonizing groans that had grown all game dispersed into resignation. Golden State led by 22 points. Curry broke into an array of ring-donning and dancing celebrations. Green would later wave goodbye to the crowd that taunted him, the Warriors launching their own f*** you Draymond chants in the locker room. The Warriors fans, with Boston’s now standing silent and stunned, chanted MVP, audible for the first time all night.
The Celtics played No. 1 defense, No. 1 offense and won 28-of-35 to close the regular season and appeared well short of that dominance until an urgent run pulled Boston within nine points on a Horford post and-one. He hit and three and blocked Poole to send the Garden into a frenzy the team wouldn’t follow through on. In many ways, the Celtics didn’t fulfill the promise, the dominance, they displayed for much of the season. Old habits returned. A performance that’ll stick with Tatum will, fair or not, will likely define his season of growth. Visuals like Udoka walking to mid-court late in Game 5 to retrieve a complaining Smart won’t be fondly remembered.
Boston can rest on its youth, upside and inevitable return to this stage that Green predicted in the handshakes before Tatum, Brown and Grant shuffled off the floor. They’ve already learned early in their playoff experience how nothing’s promised. An ascendent east finals run flowed into a disappointing 2019 and two years of soul-searching to get where they are now.
The Celtics showed they’re better than what they delivered on the big stage. They successfully built a team, as Stevens hoped, Boston could be proud of and buy into and believe into even through their lapses. A subtle applause greeted the Celtics’ regulars as they checked out, Curry crouched over, beginning to celebrate at the half court line. The crowd turned toward booing the Warriors’ ceremony, unwilling to turn on its own team that transformed like no other in history midway through the season after an 18-21 start.
“Obviously very tough to lose and be in this position,” Horford told CLNS. “But I’m very proud of our group, I’m very proud of the growth of our group all year. We went from a below .500 team, average team, to putting it together and I don’t want to get caught up in some of the bad stuff that happened tonight. I want us to keep perspective on how much growth Jayson and Jaylen had this year. It’s a lot on their hands, a lot of responsibility, and they took it in stride, they made adjustments, they improved, they grew as players, but as you can see, there’s still a lot of growth and a lot of work for all of us. The Warriors definitely were on a different level and it’s something that we have to accept, and we all have to grow.”
