After the Celtics' loss on Friday, there was one comment from earlier in the postseason that came to mind very quickly.
"If it was easy, it wouldn't be us," which Derrick White said following Boston's Game 6 loss in the Eastern Conference Finals.
That still holds up.
Friday's game was the closest of the 2022 NBA Finals, but the Celtics still lost by 10 after winning comfortably by 16 in Game 3. As much as the Warriors deserve to be here just as much as the Celtics, this series feels similar to Boston's battles with Milwaukee and Miami. The Celtics are still their own worst enemy.
"I mean, we don't do this s—— on purpose. I promise you, we don't," Jayson Tatum said when addressing the Celtics' frustrating up-and-down nature this postseason. "We (are) trying as hard as we can, but there are certain things we got to clean up. Obviously, turnovers (and) movement on the offensive end. Would we have liked to (have) won and be up 3-1? That would've been best-case scenario. But it's the Finals. In the art of competition, they came here feeling like they had to win. It wasn't easy, and I think that's kind of the beauty of (it). It's not going to be easy, and it shouldn't be. We both want it, and we got to go take it."
There's a bit more to that last comment when it pertains to Tatum. He finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, but he disappeared in the fourth quarter when his team had a chance to put Golden State away.
Tatum continues to contribute in a multitude of ways even when he's not shooting efficiently (8-for-23 on Friday), but Boston's top scoring threat needs to take charge at some point.
"When I do have space and I'm open, I got to take a shot," Tatum said. "Any time I hold it too long, they load up and things like that. Just quick decisions, don't turn down open looks (or) any daylight that I have. Continue to try to make the right pass — I had too many turnovers tonight. Just make quicker decisions."
Even with Tatum slipping up late, the Celtics had plenty of other opportunities to avoid Friday's outcome. They made just as many 3-pointers as the Warriors but on five fewer shots. However, Golden State had 17 more rebounds — 16 coming on the offensive glass.
"It's one of those things that, like, we feel like we had it put together, now our backs are against the wall," Al Horford said. "This team, we've shown all year when our backs are against the wall, we have to come out and respond. Obviously, it's a big challenge ahead."
"A big challenge" might be putting it mildly. Certainly not impossible for the Celtics to win another one in San Francisco, but that's going to be extremely difficult.
