Celtics' Jayson Tatum, Joe Mazzulla diagnose top problem that led to Game 2 loss vs. 76ers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Celtics did not look like their formidable and championship-winning selves against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2. Coach Joe Mazzulla and Jayson observed that their collapse in this NBA Playoffs game started before halftime. It is safe to say that they do not wish to repeat the same mistakes entering Game 3 of this series.
After the first quarter, the Celtics still looked like the more dominant squad over the 76ers. Coach Joe Mazzulla saw his squad lead 28-25 before everything started falling apart. The 76ers would go on to have a 37-point outburst in the second quarter that proved to be lethal against the Celtics. By the end of this Game 2 NBA Playoffs bout, the lead was too insurmountable.
Coach Mazzulla knew that the Celtics' hopes of sweeping the 76ers in the NBA Playoffs flew out of the window right then, via Justin Turpin of WEEI.
“One of the ways you have to defend them is with offense. I thought we got great looks, thought we missed them… You have to be able to score in close games against a team like that, and they made more shots than us down the stretch," the Celtics head coach declared.
The Celtics ended up taking questionable shot choices as desperation mode hit after halftime. Nothing was falling and, by the end, they were left only knocking down 26% of their three-point attempts while having an overall field goal percentage of 39.3%.
Jayson Tatum, who was clearly bothered by the 76ers defense, only scored 19 points despite playing 39 minutes. The reason? Well, their opponents forced him to an unfortunate 25% three-point percentage and 44% from the field. The Celtics star also thinks that a lot of their mistakes happened in that second quarter.
"Second quarter, we gave up 37 points. Doing that in a playoff game, it's tough," Tatum said.
The Celtics have the second-best offensive rating with a 120.8 while knocking down a team average of 36.5% of their three-pointers all season. Coach Mazzulla also crafted a league-leading defense that only allows 107.2 points per night and a three-point percentage of 35.8%. If there is any team in the NBA Playoffs that could fix these woes, they are very likely named the 18-time champions Boston Celtics.