The Boston Celtics looked like a different team in the second half of their Game 1 loss to the Miami Heat in the East Finals on Wednesday, and the team that took the court for the final two quarters of the contest looked like a far cry from the focused and prepared ball club that took the floor in the first half of the game.
Asked about why the team seemed unprepared for the uptick in intensity that the Heat brought to bear in the second half, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla took a combative tone to the question. “We worked on that,” he explained. “We played harder than them in the first half, and they outplayed us for one quarter.”
“So, we were prepared for it,” he continued. “We had the right mindset heading into the game; we had the right mindset … we played harder than they did, and we did a great job.”
The Celtics, seemingly unknown to Mazzulla, lost the game. If that is his definition of “a great job,” this team will do a great job on its way to three more losses and a fair amount of eggs on faces within the Celtics organization.
Mazzulla’s distaste for timeouts may unfairly be cast as an excuse for the lack of intensity on defense Boston trotted out in one of the most important postseason games in a decade.
But if accountability is not left to wither on the vine with this team both internally and internally (seriously, stop fighting with people doing their job, Joe), there will be nothing left to be accountable for, at least during this golden opportunity to make a run on a title.
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire