MIAMI — Gabe Vincent practiced another 3-point shot after Marcus Smart missed another layup to give the Heat a 23-point lead early in the third quarter, and Jimmy Butler knelt in center court and signaled a time-out the Celtics (whom rookie coach Joe Mazzulla called). once). It was the same taunt Al Horford attempted earlier in the Eastern Conference Finals before Boston gambled away its first 12-point lead in a row and opened the series.
At the same time, Miami winger Max Strus drew a technical foul for taunting the Celtics. The same Max Strus the Celtics waived to make Tacko Fall their human victory cigar for 169 minutes.
“Jimmy got that for me,” Strus said of the first mock tech of his NBA career. “I just gave him a piggyback ride. Probably not smart, but I’ll take it. Whatever.” And what did Strus say? “I can’t say that in here.”
Miami laughed at heavily favored Boston en route to a 128-102 win and an impressive 3-0 lead in the series. Two rounds after eliminating the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games, the Heat have a chance Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT) to secure runner-up and advance to the NBA Finals at home in Game 4.
There’s no point breaking down this game except to reiterate that Miami thrashed the Celtics until they quit if they hadn’t already given up before boarding the plane. It was easily the most embarrassing Boston performance by a handful of them this postseason, and the Kaseya Center celebrated head on at the funeral.
“It was loud in here, man,” said Duncan Robinson, a Miami sharpshooter.
After the Strus technician, less than two minutes went by before Jayson Tatum returned to defense, allowing Caleb Martin to take another long jump shot. On the next possession, Tatum made his third loss, leading to a layup from Strus. The Heat led 83-56, Mazzulla called another timeout and it kind of got worse.
Miami led by up to 33 points. It might as well have been 69. The game was a joke.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum reacts during the second half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat on Sunday. (` Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
A group of empty heats – Vincent, Strus, Robinson and Martin – combined for 79 points on 28 shots of 45 (62.2%), including 17 of 31 from long range (54.8%). The entire seven-man rotation that saw the Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers in the first two rounds scored 59 points on 24 field goals of 72 (33.3%) and an accuracy of 6 of 31 from long range (19.4%). . Vincent, who was playing in Sioux Falls the last time the Heat defeated the Celtics in the conference finals, scored more points (a playoff career-high 29) than All-NBA wingers Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined (26 points on 12-of-35 ). field goals and 1-for-14 3-point shots).
Need we say more? In a game they desperately needed to win, the Celtics responded to the 30-22 loss in the first quarter by marching Robinson down the lane on first possession of the second to make a layup.
Rather than ramping up the pace in the transition, Marcus Smart, 13 points behind, figured the only way to generate offense was to flop in backcourt. Instead, he was booed for an offensive foul. Brown and Tatum were 21 behind and just stared at each other at the end of the key until Brown fired an erroneous 3 on the shot clock with nine seconds left. It was unclear if they even had a game plan. If so, it didn’t matter much because Smart, Tatum, Brown, Horford, and Malcolm Brogdon all shot airballs. That actually happened.
“It’s unfortunate to just be transparent,” Tatum said. “We obviously wanted to come out and perform better, play better, get a different result or at least give ourselves a chance. Its hard. For some reason we didn’t have it tonight. At this point in the season, you.” I don’t want to say that, but that’s up to us.
Sometime in the second quarter the Celtics reduced the deficit to 15, had chances to close it even further and instead of attacking, Derrick White slowed down on the counterattack enough for Cody Zeller to parry his shot. Of course, Butler, on the other hand, scored against Grant Williams, fouled, lay on the field and pointed for what felt like forever the Celtics forward, taunting him in front of a national audience for the second time in three days.
Nobody of importance played the fourth quarter at all. Boston had long since stopped.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Brown said. “It’s an obvious disappointment. We failed our fan base, our organization, and ourselves, and it was collective. We can point fingers, but really it was just embarrassing.”
Never has a coach come this close to handing in his retirement while the streak is still ongoing than Mazzulla.
“I just didn’t have them ready to play,” he said. “I would have, uh – whatever it was, whether it was the starting lineup or an adjustment, I have to put them in a better place, ready to play, and that’s on me.”
Is there a discrepancy between the coach and his players?
“Yeah,” Mazzulla added, “I need to get better at that.”
In doing so, he makes his players the scapegoat, who were also responsible for the debacle on Sunday.
Mazzulla admitted his team lost the defensive identity that got them to the NBA Finals last season and insisted he must help them find it again. Tatum echoed that sentiment, saying, “We just need to be there for each other better, have each other’s backs, and just be a little bit more connected.” What neither of them seemed to realize is how difficult it is to put that into 48 hours to reach.
Conversely, on the Miami podium, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra seemed to revel in his team attacking the same Celtics that sent them home in last year’s seven-game Conference Finals.
“With everything we’ve been through before, some emotions come out,” said Spoelstra, who was participating in a final for the sixth time. “I like that and we’re just going to take charge here and continue to focus on the task at hand. We’ll relax tomorrow, but we’re really going to focus on finishing things off.”
If Boston can’t do something all 149 teams in its position previously couldn’t – bounce back from a 3-0 deficit – changes are on the horizon. A win over a No. 8 seeded opponent means that no matter how tough Miami is, the Celtics can no longer convince themselves they have the fight to use that as fuel next season. The manager’s job is almost certainly at stake on Tuesday and the squad may also need an overhaul. We’ll know for sure how keen the Celtics are to back each other up if they retire in Game 4.
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