The Celtics need more from their stars if they’re going to force a Game 7 and give themselves a chance to win a title. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown once again struggled in crunch time Monday night, shooting a combined 2-for-9 from the field (and just 5-of-8 from the free-throw line) in the fourth quarter of Boston’s Game 5 loss.
They also need more from their bench. What was once a positive for the Celtics, and a key reason they got this far in the first place, has rapidly devolved into a glaring weakness against the Warriors.
Taking out the late garbage-time minutes for the likes of Aaron Nesmith, Luke Kornet and Sam Hauser, the Warriors’ bench outscored the Celtics’ bench 31-4 in Game 5.
While Gary Payton II and Jordan Poole were chipping in 15 and 14 points, respectively, to help Golden State on a rare off night for Steph Curry, Grant Williams had three points in 16 minutes, Derrick White one in 21, and Payton Pritchard zero in five.
The Celtics were minus-18 with Williams on the floor and minus-13 with White in. With the Celtics needing to mount a comeback in the third quarter, coach Ime Udoka clearly didn’t trust his bench to get the job done given how the night had gone, so he rode Tatum and Brown for the entire second half. Neither got a rest until the final 1:19 of the game, when the outcome had already been settled.
While it doesn’t completely excuse their fourth-quarter performance, both did look pretty visibly gassed. Tatum had a couple shots come up way short, a tell-tale sign of a player who’s lost his legs.
“Could have been,” Udoka said when asked if fatigue was a factor. “We ran them obviously a longer stretch to get back in the game in the third. Looked like our decision-making waned a little bit in the fourth. Could have been from that.
“Weren't getting a whole lot of production off the bench. Went with them a little bit longer, being they got us back in, and tried to use the timeouts for their rest. Got away from a little bit of what got us back in the game in the third. Decision-making and fatigue could be a part of it, the reason why.”
In the few second-half minutes White did get, he missed a pair of wide-open threes early in the fourth that helped allow the Warriors to open the quarter on a 10-0 run, all with Curry on the bench getting the rest Udoka couldn’t afford to give Tatum and Brown. Pritchard missed all three threes he took in the first half. Williams had as many fouls (3) as points, and mixed in two turnovers as well.
While the four combined points for the Celtics’ reserves were a drastic new low, Boston getting caved in when they’re on the floor has become a trend as this series has gone on. White has now been a minus-12 or worse in four straight games. Williams has been a minus-10 or worse in three of the last four, and he’s been held to three points or fewer three times this series.
It’s been a dramatic reversal since Game 1, when White and Pritchard were actually major sparks in the Celtics’ fourth-quarter comeback. Heck, it’s been a dramatic reversal from the entire rest of the postseason.
White had not been a minus-12 or worse in any playoff game before this series. He had a plus rating in nine of 13 games against Milwaukee and Miami in the second and third rounds. Williams was a plus-21 in the Milwaukee series and plus-42 against Miami.
Bench minutes were a good thing for the Celtics in those series. White and Williams, in particular, were clear net positives, able to take advantage against opponents’ reserves and help in crunch-time minutes when called upon as well.
By Game 5 of the Finals, the bench has become something for Udoka to avoid. If the Celtics are going to have any chance of climbing out of this 3-2 hole, that can’t continue.
There isn’t going to be any change in the rotation at this point. It’s White and Williams, with a little bit of Pritchard sprinkled in. They have shown this postseason that they are capable of being forces for good, and capable of holding down the fort when Tatum or Brown needs a breather. They need to get back to being that Thursday night.
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