Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from C’s depleting Game 6 loss to Heat

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 2) Jimmy Butler was the best player in TD Garden

Game 6 was not about Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, or Al Horford.

It was about Jimmy Buckets, who silenced a loud and rambunctious TD Garden crowd with the game of his life. The All-Star wing went off for 47 points on 55 percent shooting to carry his Miami Heat to the coveted Game 7.

The 32-year-old superstar added nine boards, eight assists, and four steals in what was a stat sheet stuffer supreme of a performance. A guy who was supposedly hobbled with inflammation in his knee outplayed the Celtics collectively.

An attitude of not caring who was guarding him, if you double him then he will use his very high IQ to beat you with the pass. Let’s look into the other stars in the game that did not show up when the lights were the brightest.

Tatum had a solid scoring night offensively with a smooth efficient 30-burger on 75 percent shooting. The issue with his performance was the team/game-high seven giveaways.

Before Friday’s contest, Tatum was leading the series in turnovers by a wide margin with 4.2 and the expectation is it will only rise.

That’s 28 turnovers for the series in six games and it is not going to cut the bread.

He’s not alone in this department, as JB added four of his own and his weakness in ball-handling has been well on display here as it may be the one component missing from an otherwise great skill set.

Jaylen Brown was solid in the scoring department until it came to crucial missed free throws down the stretch. The ultimate pendulum swing in this rare tight contest in the playoffs that has been dominated by blowouts.

Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Grant Williams all were largely non-factors in this outing. The series is not over, but this team needs to control the controllable elements of a game.

This starts with keeping the rebound margins close, valuing possession to possession, and making free throws down the stretch.