Joe Mazzulla talked about the mistakes made in the Celtics’ defeat by the Pacers.
After the Boston Celtics’ quarterfinal loss to the Indiana Pacers, Joe Mazzulla discussed the events that led to their elimination from the In-Season Tournament.
With a 122-112 victory in the East Quarterfinal on Monday night at Gain bridge Fieldhouse, the Indiana Pacers eliminated the Boston Celtics from the In-Season Tournament.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both appeared to be having one of their dominant games as the C’s led by seven at the half. However, Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers generated a significant shift in momentum.
Brown and Tatum combined for 62 points, with Tatum controlling the majority of the last quarter. But Indiana would not go down thanks to Haliburton’s spectacular, jaw-dropping play and several long-range dagger threes that gave him a 26-point triple-double.
With Haliburton taking center stage, the Pacers eventually jumped out to a 17-3 lead after Boston’s appalling third quarter. The Celtics were only 9-33 from three, while they were 14-30. Three former Celtics, Buddy Hield, T.J. McConnell, and Aaron Nesmith, all made clutch plays and big shots.
Joe Mazzulla discussed how Boston started to unravel in the third frame following the defeat.
“Our mistakes,” Mazzulla remarked. “You just let them get out in transition when you turn the ball over because it’s difficult to sustain 18 turnovers and 6 turnovers. In addition, I felt that we failed to achieve our offensive goals because we mishandled the ball and committed seven turnovers in the third quarter. Therefore, they penalize you for doing that against that team.”
After Mazzulla gave an explanation of how things got out of hand, the game changed.
“Well, I mean, it goes back to your offense and defense are connected, and so if you turn the ball over, your defense isn’t gonna be as good,” he said. Therefore, I believe that our turnovers contributed to their transition, that we lost our individual defensive angles, that they were able to get some space to drive, and that they were able to get to the paint. We were somewhat affected by those two things in the third quarter.
The Boston Celtics will take on the losing team from the New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks quarterfinal game on Friday night in an attempt to get Kristaps Porzingis back from his calf injury.
