5 things to watch for in Game 5 of Celtics-Cavs

Breaking down five keys to a pivotal Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night. 

1. Get the ball to Jayson Tatum more: With LeBron James primarily engaged against Jaylen Brown on the defensive end and Tristan Thompson doing a nice job of neutralizing Al Horford in the halfcourt, it’s time for the Celtics to turn to their rookie as the offensive focal point. The Cavs don’t have anyone to slow him down if James is occupied with Brown and they have been throwing two and three bodies at the 20-year-old periodically to try to throw him out of rhythm. Tatum needs to recognize when he’s getting that additional attention and look for his teammates when the Cavs are collapsing on him. Otherwise, this is a night where the Celtics need to keep feeding the guy who has the best chance of getting the Celtics a shot they want in the halfcourt. Whether it’s getting his man (J.R. Smith) into foul trouble or opening the door for easy looks for his teammates, Tatum’s usage rate (20.5 percent) ranks sixth on the team and that’s far too low in this series when you compare it to his efficiency. Whether it’s in the starting five or serving as a focal point of the offense with the bench unit (if Brad Stevens makes a switch), he needs to be a featured option in Game 5.

2. Make LeBron James think more:

The Celtics had a nice gameplan for the first couple games, but the Cavs had a long time to study the C’s switching and recovery scheme in the long layoff between Games 2 and 3 and made them pay for it throughout the two contests in Cleveland. There are few players in the game that read the floor as well as James and if he knows what you are trying to do, chances are he’s going to find a way to beat it. With that in mind, it’s essential the Celtics throw a few tweaks in their scheme to keep him off balance. Whether it’s a hard double team, fighting through switches, or attacking him from the blind side, they can’t let James get as comfortable as he was during Games 3 and 4. Marcus Smart did some strong work attacking in the full court with ball pressure, but him guarding James also leaves the Celtics vulnerable in other areas (i.e. forcing Jayson Tatum to chase around Kyle Korver). The C’s will need to figure out the right alignments there to keep the Cavs offense from turning into the juggernaut we saw in the first half of Game 4.

3. Marcus Smart needs to focus on distributing: I touched on this a bit in my Game 4 takeaways column, but the numbers speak for themselves. Smart is shooting 28.9 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from 3-point range in this series. He’s got the second-highest usage rate among Celtics rotation players and that’s just unacceptable for a player with a bad thumb and a bad jumper. Stevens needs Smart on the court for obvious reasons but he can’t afford him squandering away key offensive chances when there are high percentage opportunities next to him. Smart is at his best when he’s a pass-first player and he needs to get back into that mindset for Game 5. Otherwise, the Celtics might not have the firepower to stick with the Cavs.

4. Tatum needs to start rebounding: He was a big contributor in this area for much of the regular season but he’s turned into a bystander against the Cavs front line. His defensive rebounding rate (7.7 percent) is the lowest on the team and that’s simply not acceptable for a 6-foot-8 forward. Al Horford and Marcus Morris have faced a monster challenge trying to box out the likes of Thompson and Kevin Love on the glass and they need some reinforcements to help them snatch up loose balls. Even though Tatum is spending most of his time chasing shooters on the perimeter, he needs to crash the boards hard to keep the Cavs from piling up precious second chance opportunities. Most of his teammates have done an admirable job in this area all series long, so it’s time for Tatum to follow suit.

5. Don’t fall in love with the 3-ball: The Celtics are shooting just 32.4 percent in this series from beyond the arc, a mark that would rate them 30th in the league during the regular season. They are a far superior 3-point shooting team at home in the postseason, but they should not be settling for pull up looks from that range, especially if they are contested in any way. The Cavs defense turned things up a notch over the last couple of games, but they still have holes all over the place. The Celtics did not do a good job in exploiting those openings in Game 4, whether it was an inability to finish at the rim or taking an ill-advised jumper early in the shot clock. Horford has the ability to pull Thompson out of the lane and the Celtics should take advantage of keeping the floor spread by seeking easy opportunities in the interior.