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The Boston Celtics are on the verge of being swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the Miami Heat, and many are wondering what happened to the team that was two wins away from an NBA championship just a year ago.
Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon shed some light on the team’s decline in this series, saying Boston has failed to produce consistently on both ends of the floor in the way that’s required to contend for a title.
“I think it’s teams that have a strong identity,” Brogdon told reporters on Monday. “I think Miami is one of the teams, one of the few teams in the league—Miami, Denver, there are only a few of them—that have a really strong identity, and they play by it every single night. They’re super committed to it.
“And, for us, our identity has waned all year long. We’ve been trying to figure out who we are, because I think we’re such a great, talented scoring team, but when we don’t make shots, we got to rely on our defense, and our defense isn’t consistent every night. So, playing a team that’s very consistent and disciplined, we struggle.”
While the Celtics made it through the first two rounds with hard-fought wins over the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers, they’ve lost to the Heat in demoralizing fashion. The first two losses were fourth-quarter collapses on their home floor. Their Game 3 loss on Sunday was an embarrassing blowout in Miami.
Brogdon went on to point out that Boston’s defensive struggles have been going on for quite some time:
“We haven’t been consistently great defensively all year long, and that was the team’s identity last year. I think that’s slipped away from us. We’ve had spurts where we’ve been great defensively, but not consistently. And, honestly, we’ve struggled in every series we’ve played. So, now we’re playing a team that’s playing as if they’re the best team in the league, and they’re just incredibly disciplined, incredibly consistent. And I think we’ve struggled with teams that are consistent on a possession-by-possession basis every night.”
The Celtics will have the chance to save their season in Game 4 against the Heat on Tuesday night. Despite his critical comments, Brogdon said he believes Boston will be able to stay alive and extend the series.
“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s the approach you have to take. We still believe we’re the better team. We have not played like it in these three games. But there is always a first.”
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