Celtics struggling in clutch as Joe Mazzulla admits Game 4 timeout mistake

BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla gathered the Celtics at their film session back in Boston on Monday and admitted something he’d soon do publicly after the team’s Game 4 loss. He should’ve called timeout.

“That’s his call. He’s the coach,” Malcolm Brogdon said at shootaround on Tuesday. “It’s his call whether or not he feels like we should be able to get it done and play in the rhythm of the game, finish the game without a timeout, or call a timeout. He let us finish the game, he trusts us, at the end of the day, Joe trusts us. He has the confidence in us to make the right play at the end of the game. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. There’ll always be fingers pointed for whoever, but that’s an in the moment call. We trust Joe … it’s one mistake, it’s one game, but one mistake never costs us. It’s the entirety of the game.”

That one moment, wasting 20 seconds getting into the final set of overtime then not getting a shot off, weighed as heavily as the 16-point deficit the Celtics dug themselves in the first half and key baskets allowed late to James Harden — including the decisive double team. Mazzulla initially defended his decision to call timeout post-game, and later lauded his team’s 1.35 points per shot in the game’s closing stretch.

Clutch time generally continues to haunt a Boston team this postseason that generally played well late in games during the regular season. The Celtics lost 4-of-7 so far in those situations, posting a -9.5 net rating that ranks 11th out of 16 playoff teams, including a 142.9 defensive rating. In this series, James Harden continues to pick on mismatches while higher, earlier screens, Jaylen Brown said, made it a struggle to fight over them as he did to lead successful defensive efforts in Games 2 and 3.

Offensively, timely issues hurt more than the aggregate. Mazzulla admitted his play-calling slowed the Celtics down after they squandered late leads in Game 5 against the Hawks and Game 1 against the 76ers. Offensive organization dwindled in the closing moments of Game 4, Brogdon said. He mostly spent overtime on the bench after picking up a fifth foul.

“I think we just tried to get the right spacing at first,” White said. “We had three guys up top for a second, so that kind of delayed us for a little bit. We’re trying to get the right spacing and attack from there, not necessarily (run the clock…