It’s officially a thing.
It’s been a thing most of the postseason, a thing that threatens Boston’s latest championship run.
For whatever reason a Celtics team that’s been among the best in basketball since January, a squad with elite players and complementary talent alike that’s earned this very legitimate shot at an NBA title, has a significant flaw in its game. A 12-minute hole in its proverbial swing.
Yet again Sunday night at Chase Center Boston blew its chances to take a commanding series lead by falling apart in the third quarter as the Warriors outscored the Celtics 35-14 to turn a two-point halftime dogfight into an eventual 107-88 Golden State victory lap.
Sure the Celtics should head back to Boston feeling good about a split by the Bay, stealing home court advantage along the way. But no one in green can feel lucky about the way the team is playing its third quarters of basketball, after all the visitors needed an epic Game 1 comeback to overcome that night’s third quarter misery.
They say good things come in threes, but for the Celtics it seems way more often than not bad things come in the third.
“It’s something we have to fix,” Al Horford said, the veteran leader serving as Boston’s Captain Obvious after the Celtics latest post-halftime debacle that included shooting just 4-of-17 while turning the ball over five times.
But it’s not just the poor shooting. Boston has had issues there in other quarters. It’s not just the turnovers, the Celtics had those even in the still-competitive first half on Sunday night.
There as to be more to it. Has to be a reason that opponents have outscored the Celtics by 14 or more points four different times this postseason coming out of halftime, all those “efforts” coming on the road.
“That's been an ongoing theme in the playoffs so far at times,” Ime Udoka said after the ugly loss. “It was more of the same in that third quarter.”
And when Boston struggles in the third quarter, the opposition generally takes full advantage. Steph Curry led a Golden State squad that hit 7 of its dozen three-pointers in the third quarter, the star matching Boston’s points himself as the home team pulled away and turned the fourth quarter into meaningless garbage time thanks to a 23-point lead after three.
“It's definitely frustrating,” Derrick White said of another Boston back-breaking third quarter. “I mean, we’ve talk about it pretty much the whole postseason. It's easy to talk about, but we've got to go out there and change something. That was a big quarter for them, and really a quarter that put us away.”
No, Udoka isn’t the one turning the ball over in these miserable third quarter. He’s not the one missing open shots. But he is the one tasked with fixing it.
Udoka has proven himself a very good coach for a very good team this year.
He, as much as anyone, deserves credit for how Boston turned its season around. For the fact that the Celtics are tied at one game apiece in the NBA Finals.
Now, though, if Udoka wants to take the next step and be considered a great coach – if he wants to turn his team into a great, championship-winning team in his first season – Boston’s bench boss must find a way to answer all the ugly questions facing his team after yet another debilitating third quarter.
There are potentially just five games to play. Five games to figure out the problem.
Five third quarters, which these days is a scary thought for the Celtics and their fans.
Udoka said the third quarter “got away from” the Celtics on Sunday night. Indeed.
If he and his team can’t figure out a solution to the third quarter woes Curry and Co., this NBA Finals and Banner 18 could end up getting away from his team as well.