ORLANDO — These breakdowns just come at the worst time for these Celtics. They never had a grasp of Game 4 and when they feverishly worked to take the lead despite subpar performances by most of their roster, they relented and now they are on the brink of getting booted out of the bubble.
What’s even more infuriating is the Celtics played a rather putrid game. In their biggest game of the season, and one of the biggest in the Brad Stevens era, they allowed Miami to take control and lead most of the way. And one of the better defensive teams in the NBA allowed rookie Tyler Herro to score 37 points.
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He had an out-of-worldly night and the Celtics were left helpless in a 112-109 loss. They picked the worst night to play their worst first half of the playoffs and then compounded that with a mistake-filled final period, allowing the Heat to snatch the victory away again.
Now there is no margin for error. The Celtics are being beaten because the better team is outplaying them. Jayson Tatum looked like he was in a trance in the first half, going scoreless. Marcus Smart forced things. Jaylen Brown fought foul trouble. Gordon Hayward looked like he had played one game in five weeks.
And yet, they led 85-84 with 8:51 left. If the Celtics lose this series (and they likely will) they will look at the first three losses and wonder how come they couldn’t make one or two more plays. Right after the Celtics took their first lead since 10-8, they allowed another Miami offensive rebound and putback by Bam Adebayo and then five straight points from Herro and they were down six and pretty much done.
There would be no fracas in the locker room this time. The Celtics knew they played their worst game of the series at the most inopportune time and have put themselves in a situation in which only making history would get them to the NBA Finals.
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They’ve lost the three games in this series by 11 total points. But Miami made probably 11 big plays in the fourth quarter of those three games to send the Celtics into submission. In this one, the Celtics rallied to within 98-95 with three minutes left and then allowed Goran Dragic to make a difficult layup and Jimmy Butler to add a bucket.
Needing another stop down four, the Celtics allowed another Miami offensive rebound and then Dragic scored again, and after Tatum traveled, Butler cashed in with a layup.
How come the Celtics played so poorly when it counted? No one could really answer. How come Tatum couldn’t score in the first half, when the Celtics needed to set a tone? The Heat said for the past three days they needed to take an early lead and keep it, but the Celtics made it easy on them with an awful first-half stretch.
“I thought our first half we looked, for whatever reason, we didn’t look crisp,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "Obviously, that showed itself in our shooting numbers. I thought we were lucky to be at 50-44 at halftime, to be candid. Then I thought we found a nice rhythm.
“We really attacked the zone much better in the second [half]. We shot the ball with authority, we hit the middle, but we also screened the outside. We got great looks. I felt like we were getting good looks all night. For whatever reason, our first half just wasn’t as good as it’s been.”
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It’s inexplicable. The Celtics looked flat in what should have been a golden opportunity to tie the series. Miami wasn’t particularly good besides Herro. The rookie, taken one pick ahead of Romeo Langford, scored 35 percent of Miami’s points. And the Heat players besides Herro shot 35.7 percent. So again the Heat weren’t dominant.
The game was winnable. But the Celtics committed seven turnovers in the final period and robbed themselves from a chance to steal a win. But when you play such a porous first half and trail the entire way, perfect ball is the only way to win. The Celtics were far from perfect.
“It’s tough. Like I said, they played better than us in the first half,” Tatum said. “The second half we picked it up, but they were already in a rhythm, feeling good about themselves. A lot of guys over there made a number of good plays. It was tough to come back from.”
Stevens could have made adjustments against Herro, who was guarded by Kemba Walker most of the evening. But Smart was guarding Dragic, who barbequed Walker in the first two games. Miami batters opponents with its versatility. The Heat win these grinding type of games because they have playmakers down the stretch.
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The Celtics don’t have those playmakers yet. They perhaps thought they did, but in the three Miami wins, Butler, Dragic and Bam Adebayo have made those critical plays. The Celtics have bungled their chances. They committed five turnovers after taking that one-point lead, wasting five chances to score, five chances to make a big play.
So there was more resignation than frustration. The Celtics have played a subpar series after such an epic seven-game elimination of the Toronto Raptors. They will lament missed opportunities, unforced turnovers and poor defensive execution.
And now they’re relegated to having to chase perfection to even survive. They brought this on themselves. It’s their own fault.
“We came out a little bit flat and it wasn’t enough,” Brown said. “We needed a win. Guys got comfortable out there and they started hitting shot after shot after shot. We gotta set the tone better. The good thing is we have an opportunity to keep playing and I believe we’ll fight until the end.”
Gary Washburn can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe.
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In Game 4, the Celtics picked a bad time to play their worst - The Boston Globe
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