With 21 seconds to go, the Celtics had the ball up 3 and have been set to inbound after a Trae Younger technical foul.
Then, all hell broke free.
Jrue Vacation had a wide-open layup to bury Atlanta and put the Celtics up 105-100 with about 16 seconds to go. Take the layup! Why is he dribbling the ball away from the basket, Particularly into the nook the place one thing unhealthy will doubtless occur?
Anyhow, he does after which turns the ball over whereas making an attempt a move to Jaylen Brown.
The Hawks get the ball, the Celtics foul and Trae Younger makes a pair of free throws. Fouling up 3 is at all times the proper resolution; I don’t perceive why some coaches don’t do it.
The Celtics get the ball again and catch a break as a result of Jayson Tatum was fouled as he was falling out of bounds.
Then, Tatum stepped to the road, making the primary.
The second…
Tatum, an 80% free throw shooter, had not missed one all night time so he was doubtless due for a miss. Nevertheless, that doesn’t excuse it. It’s a must to make your free throws. Barstool’s Dan Greenberg was able to have a breakdown.
FTs are essential. I can’t consider Tatum missed
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) January 19, 2025
He’s proper however okay, the Celtics have been nonetheless up 2 with 7.9 seconds left and the Hawks had no timeouts.
In essentially the most surprising play of the night time, Jrue Vacation fouled Younger as he was bringing the ball up the court docket.
He clearly grabs his wrist in what appears like an intentional foul. Nevertheless, Joe Mazzulla mentioned it was not after the sport.
Joe Mazzulla mentioned Jrue Vacation’s foul wasn’t intentional and that they should have higher late-game execution (and consistency all through): pic.twitter.com/dM7b0xJoKH
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 19, 2025
However it certain seemed like Vacation grabbed his wrist on goal. It appears like Vacation didn’t know the rating, which can’t occur in that state of affairs. I’m not saying he thought the Celtics have been up 3, however I can’t consider one more reason that he would have fouled there.
After Younger made each free throws, the Celtics received the ball with 3.5 seconds to go.
They inbounded to Tatum and NBC Sports activities Boston’s Brian Scalabrine referred to as it out on the published that Onyeka Okongwu is ready to have an effect on Tatum’s catch as a result of he’s dishonest off of Neemias Queta who’s clearly not going to get the ball. Why is Queta even on the court docket? Mazzulla had gone with a lineup of Pritchard, Vacation, White, Brown and Tatum for earlier possessions and if he wished an enormous man on the market, however why not Luke Kornet? He’s a much better offensive participant than Queta is.
I simply don’t perceive why Joe loves Queta a lot, he continually will get misplaced on protection and is a foul defensive rebounder.
Anyhow, Tatum missed the shot and we headed to extra time, the place the Celtics misplaced.
In extra time, there was an offensive rebound that Okongwu received after of a pair of missed free throws with the C’s down one. One other mistake by the Celtics and it was Queta who was out of place on this one which allowed for Okongwu to seize the rebound.
It’s infuriating to lose a sport like this, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It has occurred an excessive amount of just lately for the Celtics.
They haven’t performed effectively sufficient within the 4th quarter of video games as of late and they should determine it out.
I feel they’ll be okay, that is nonetheless an elite crew that gained the championship final season however that doesn’t make this not irritating. We all know the Celtics can win video games like this — we noticed them do it within the playoffs a season in the past. They simply want to search out it and determine this out.
