Less than a second of time on the clock and things could feel very, very different for the Celtics on this bright May Monday morning.
But, alas and a loss, Marcus Smart’s would-be game-winner was after the overtime buzzer Sunday afternoon in Philly, the 76ers holding on for the 116-115 win to knot the Eastern Conference NBA playoff series at two games apiece.
And it leaves first-year Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, supposed all-world superstar Jayson Tatum and the Banner 18-hunting Celtics left to ponder their own postseason narratives. Which is exactly how it should be in the scoreboard-driven world of professional sports. Winners write history and losers must learn from it.
Mazzulla, the wide-eyed young coaching hardo himself is left defending his decision to keep his timeouts in his back pocket – as he is so often wont to do -- at the end of both regulation and overtime, Boston settling, ironically, for Smart threes in each scenario.
Asked about the timeout avoidance on the final possession of the game, specifically, Mazzulla sidestepped to simply declare that Boston got the play it wanted but that it just needed to execute it a bit quicker.
That brings us to Tatum, who walked his way up the court on the final possession, setting the improper pacing the way a superstar sets the tone for all things for his team, before getting to the basket and kicking to Smart for the ill-fated end result.
This was the same Tatum who opened the game missing his first eight shots of the afternoon in anything but All-NBA fashion, continuing the kind of inconsistent playoff performances that have plagued his development over the last year-plus of postseason action.
Not surprisingly with a coach who’s still clearly finding his way in his first year thrust into NBA sideline leadership action and a superstar who’s truly elite, special play can be fleeting at times the Celtics are a team riding a rollercoaster this postseason. They look like lights-out title contenders one night. Only to have that balanced out by portions of games when they look like an incohesive, poorly-coach squad trying to find its identity on the ring-chasing fly.
Can Mazzulla pull it all together in time for a true title run? Can he get past his seemingly fabricated Greg Popovich/Bill Belichick façade to settle into his role as a leader of men, a role that requires credible genuineness above all else? Mazzulla needs to forge a true, honest identity. Now.
Can Tatum, driven by last season’s NBA Finals failure, become the guy he’s supposed to already be? Is there a Jimmy Butler, James Harden, Steph Curry postseason dog in No. 0, ready to carry his team to where it is supposedly destined to go? Or will the end of games continue to be moments where the Robin to Tatum’s Batman, Jaylen Brown, continues to lament his unclear role as he watches Smart take not one but two three-pointers with the game, and to a lesser degree, the season on the line?
Make no mistake, these Celtics are a very good basketball team. They are a legitimate NBA title contender. They have a depth and breadth of talent that is admirable, Brad Stevens deserving all the praise he can get for the roster he’s assembled in the post-Danny Ainge days.
The series with Philly -- another team among the many this NBA postseason with coaches and star players trying to prove their postseason mettle -- is tied 2-2. All is not lost by any means after a frustrating loss.
There is time for Mazzulla to pull himself and his team together. For Tatum to become the Da Man and take his game to the next postseason level.
There is still time to write this narrative.
But if the Celtics are going to be who they are supposed to be this NBA postseason spring, then Mazzulla and Tatum need to figure out who they are and step up to the challenge.
Whether as a coach finding his identity and still-young star they are really ready for it or not.