After reaching the NBA Finals last season and losing to the Golden State Warriors, you would have expected the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to learn from their mistakes when it comes to turning the ball over late in close games, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
The Celtics blew another fourth-quarter lead to Miami at home in Friday night's Game 2 and committed 15 turnovers in the game, with five of them coming from Tatum.
Tatum actually has improved from last spring when it comes to turnovers, averaging 2.6 per game this postseason compared to 4.2 turnovers per game last year, but they're still a problem against the Heat in particular.
Of Tatum's top 10 playoff games with the most turnovers, five of them have come against the Heat, including his career high of seven turnovers in two separate games, six in two more, and now Friday's Game 2 with five turnovers. The Celtics lost all five of those games against the Heat.
Jaylen Brown also has the same issue, averaging 3.3 turnovers per game, which is actually more than his 3.1 turnovers per game last postseason. He made two costly mistakes on back-to-back possessions with under five minutes to go in Game 2, first committing a travel and then - after grabbing an offensive rebound - forcing a shot in heavy traffic that was easily blocked.
While coach Joe Mazzulla has come under plenty of fire this postseason, we've seen these bad habits before with Ime Udoka last year, and Brad Stevens the years before as well. When speaking aboutthe performance of the team in relation to Mazzulla, Tatum said, "Joe ain't miss no shots tonight. He ain't have no turnovers."
Tatum also has failed to make a field goal in the fourth quarter for the first two games of the series, which is a huge issue considering the fact that he is the best player on the team and should be shooting the most at the end of the game.
The Celtics need Tatum and Brown to lead by example, to shoot with more confidence, and to clean up the turnovers if they want to win four of the next five against Miami and compete in the NBA Finals again.
