One game at a time.
That’s the mindset right now.
They didn’t win the series last night.
They didn’t tie it.
Hell, I’m not sure they even put all that much pressure on the Heat just yet.
Avoiding the sweep was Step 1.
Now sitting at 3-1, the uphill climb is still extremely steep.
Teams up 3-1 are 266-13 all time.
In the Conference Finals, they are 42-3.
But the longer it takes to kill them, the more confidence they get.
The more the Heat start to feel the pressure of closing this series out.
Now they know it’s possible.
Shoot their normal averages, defend at the normal rate we saw during the year, that’s enough.
Do it again on Thursday and things get a little more interesting.
He needed to be efficient and came through with a 14-22 (4-9) performance.
He only missed 4 shots in the 2nd half and committed just 1 TO.
Of his 25 points in that half, he took a total of 0 FTA.
Tatum led all Celtics with 5 assists.
He tied White with 2 blocks.
He was 3rd in rebounding and was a team best +27.
To put it simply, when Tatum plays like this it changes everything.
It’s not just about his scoring.
The bar and standard is high for Tatum becausethisis what he is capable of doing.
Moving forward, whenever the Heat go to a zone, I need Tatum on the nail.
How do you break this MIA zone?
You simply do this
For starters, look at where Tatum is at the beginning of this set.
He’s on the block.
He’s not 30 ft from the rim.
This is important because watch what happens.
Bam has to somewhat follow Tatum to that area, which leaves Lowry there to switch onto Al.
This gives Tatum a choice to either exploit that mismatch, or do what he did in the clip.
No hesitation, just right into his jumper.
If he misses, Al is right there against a PG and Bam is completely out of the play.
- Finally, the defense showed up.
It’s not like they are losing close games with both teams under 100.
If the Celts keep you to under 100, they win.
If the Celts are able to limit their opponent’s points, they win.
A few things stood out in this defensive masterclass.
For starters, the Celts did not allow a single 30 point quarter.
For starters, the Celts were able to limit transition scoring.
The Heat had just 10 fastbreak points in this game, and just 2 in the entire second half.
you might thank just ONE second half TO for that.
Take away their transition offense and you give yourself a shot.
They also were much better last night at taking away Bam’s roll in the P&R.
He finished with just 10 points and took only 7 FGA.
Next, the team did not freak out and overcommit to Jimmy Butler.
- There’s no doubt that Jaylen has had a rough series.
Maybe the worst of his career to be honest.
Let’s start with the biggest thing, and that’s Jaylen’s ball control.
The shooting will come and go, that’s normal.
The way Jaylen remain engaged on both ends is what mattered.
There was no falling asleep off ball and getting beat by Duncan Robinson on cuts.
He finished with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
It was his defense/steals that helped the Celts really get rolling during that 16-0 run.
They needed the “others” to fill their role, especially the guards.
When it’s bad?
They can’t beat the worst teams in the league regardless of what the Jays do.
Smart didn’t have a single point and was 0-4 (0-4) in his 15 first half minutes.
By the end of this game?
He was everywhere in terms of contests, blocks and steals.
With Smart, he was the Celtics second best player over the final 24 minutes.
- For the first time in this series, we saw the Celts have a Mazzulla Ball game.
People STILL confuse this with the idea that it means the Celts just jack up threes.
Mazzulla Ball is about playing the right way.
Loving and trusting your teammate and trusting the pass.
It means taking care of the basketball and being smart.
Defensively, it means showing up and guarding your yard.
It means sparking your offense with good defense.
This is who the Celtics are.
That is Mazzulla Ball.
For whatever reason, we did not see the Celts play this way to start the series.
We finally got one and look what happened?
The one that is so important to how the Celts want to play.
I could argue this was Grant’s best overall game of the season.
All he did was exactly what was asked for him and that was it.
That huge block on Butler?
There was no trash talking.
He put his head down and went the other way.
Say what you want about Grant, but he is backing up his talk in this series.
- It was also nice to see Playoff Al finally hit some goddamn shots.
If Horford is knocking down open looks, that forces the Heat to change.
The timeouts were great, he controlled the pace of the game.
His ATOs were solid.
The strategy and approach was right.
We even saw him stop a broken play in real time before Jaylen turned it over!
That run completely changed the game, and there was no Spo timeout.
Joe does shit like that and people think he has rocks for brains.
Maybe that’s just what happens in today’s NBA?
Coaches all around the league let their players figure it out.
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
Defend without fouling and go from there.
Not with how Martin has been shooting the ball.
It was almost getting ridiculous at certain points.
A sequence like this
I mean what the hell.
For starters, this needs to be a rebound.
You knew as soon as they didn’t secure the ball, the Heat were scoring.
Whether it was a 2 or a 3, we all knew what was coming.
In Game 5, the Celts need to clean this shit up.
Almost all their 3PM came off 2nd chance opportunities, and that’s just asking for trouble.
I don’t get it.
you’re free to’t be giving away points like this
Last night, they went 12-18.
Jaylen went 2-5 himself.
There is no excuse for this team to be shooting 66% from the line.
Good job by the Celts to not let the 24-18 foul difference fuck with their heads.
He’s too important to the offense to have just 2 points in 2 games.
You or I could do that shit.
Brogdon is just 1 for his last 11 and is getting completely outplayed by Caleb Martin off the bench.
I can handle one of those two things.
You either miss your layups and make your 3PA, or you miss your 3PA but make your layups.
If that’s going to be the case, give his minutes to Hauser or Pritchard.
To go from that to what we’re getting in the ECF is tough to overcome.
From here, all that matters is winning the next game.
you’re able to’t make up a 3-1 deficit all in one win.
We’re about to see if the Celts understand that.
They said before the game that the Heat couldn’t let them get one.
So now it’s time to see what the Celts do with it.
