SAN FRANCISCO—It’s the two words Celtics fans have come to dread:
Third quarter.
It’s closing in on Bill Buckner, Deflategate and Babe Ruth Trade as phrases that send chills through fans in greater New England. Officially the Celtics are not a bad third quarter team. In the regular season, they had a plus-2.7 scoring differential in the third quarter. In the playoffs, it has dipped to minus-0.8—cringey, but not an awful number.
Lately, though, some third quarters have been truly catastrophic. There was the 34–17 blitz Milwaukee put on them in Game 3 of the conference semifinals.