Recap: Celtics blow Game 1 in agonizing, excruciating and infuriating fashion

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Feast or famine. Jekyll and Hyde. The good, the bad, the ugly. [Insert your own expression here.]

There were times tonight (a majority of this game, perhaps) where the Celtics looked comfortably better than the Miami Heat. Unfortunately, there were too many times where they stood around and played like dumbasses. The result? An agonizing, infuriating 117-114 OT loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The main culprit tonight was… a stagnant offense. There had to be 30 possessions where the Celtics (specifically Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker) would dribble 15-to-18 seconds off the shot clock and be forced to take terrible shots. I realize Miami is a good defensive team, but this was self-inflicted pain.

Tatum (30 points, 10-24 FG, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals) was great tonight. Sure, he took a questionable shot at the end of regulation and had his lunch handed to him by Bam Adebayo in a block for the ages at the end of overtime, but the kid is shouldering a lot.

Kemba Walker (19 points, 6-19 FG) had another mediocre game. Eight critical points late in the 4th and OT spared him from being truly terrible. Something needs to change with Kemba.

Let’s run through it, shall we?

The lead reached 14 points (85-71) early in the 4th quarter. It was a three-possession game (97-90) with 6 minutes remaining. The lead was 5 points (105-100) with 1:09 remaining. But…

The game was tied before Boston inbounded the ball because Marcus Smart drew a dead ball foul (OF COURSE HE DID) on Derrick Jones. Unfortunately…

Just a garbage shot by Tatum. You have to take the ball to the rim and try to draw the foul (REMEMBER THIS THOUGHT).

After Jimmy Butler drove through Tatum for the and-1, the Celtics trailed by two when…

A spectacular play by Bam Adebayo. Spectacular and infuriating because the Celtics never should have been in this position in the first place.

Upon further review, is this goaltending? I see Adebayo’s hand on the rim and the ball over the cylinder. Ahem…

Recap: Celtics blow Game 1 in agonizing, excruciating and infuriating fashion

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