Five areas to watch in Celtics-Heat Game 2 - It starts with defense

A look at five key storylines on Thursday night as the Celtics aim to even up the Eastern Conference Finals at 1-1. 

Communication on defense: A second look at the film in Game 1 tells a pretty ugly story during stretches of the game for the Celtics' defense. Not only were they failing to get back in transition, giving up points after made baskets on several occasions, but they also lacked the awareness in spots to put their teammates in good position to defend.

Nearly every guard (Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Brad Wanamaker) was beaten badly by some kind of backdoor cut in Game 1, giving up open baskets while overcompensating by trying to take away cuts or handoffs on the perimeter. Defensively, we already talked about Walker’s poor decisions (he was very bad at containing Dragic too) but Brown probably had his worst defensive game of the postseason as well. The fourth-year swingman struggles with off-ball defense at times and he helped way too far off of Jae Crowder in multiple spots and failed to communicate with his teammates when back screens were coming, which put the C’s defense giving up layups and 3s with minimal help on several occasions.

It’s not easy to contain Miami’s offense with so much shooting spread out and savvy players who are great at taking advantage of mistakes by defenders by putting pressure on teams with cuts and handoffs all night. However, the Celtics got lost on too many occasions in Game 1 and that has to get cleaned up in Game 2.

“To their credit, they attacked us all night down the floor, but some of those plays in the fourth, where we gave up layups and/or got lost on some threes hurt us,” Brad Stevens said. “So we have to clean that up, we have to be a lot better in transition. We have to be a lot better on some of their actions, though. We guarded other actions well, and we have to know how to react. We have to know what not to overreact to from an action standpoint.”

Getting Jaylen Brown involved more: The swingman had a quietly efficient night in Game 1 on the offensive end, scoring 15 points on 11 shots, including 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range. His aggression in the first quarter helped send Duncan Robinson to the bench early in foul trouble as he generally had the weakest wing defender on him when he shared the floor with Walker and Tatum. However, the fourth-year wing took just five shots in the second half and overtime, and did not touch the ball in the final three minutes of regulation beyond an offensive rebound.

With Walker struggling with his shot, Brown should become a focal part offensively in this series if Walker doesn't breakout of his slump, especially if they keep throwing double teams at the point guard that should free up Brown for more open looks.

“We talked about that,” Brown said of getting more involved before Game 2. “I think just making adjustments in this game. Other games it’s been different and in other games it hasn’t been different. Just continuing to make adjustments. I trust what Brad is going to do. I trust what our guys are going to do when they have the ball in their hands. We’ve just got to make the right decisions and play together as a team. I think that will happen. I think tomorrow will be a different game and we all just gotta be ready to play basketball.”

Unselfish play: The Celtics got great looks when they moved the ball around in Game 1. We already covered how bad the offense looked in late-game situations thanks to a heavy reliance on isolation play. However, these weren’t the only moments of selfish play on a night when the Heat piled up 10 more assists than Boston. Marcus Smart had a red-hot shooting night from 3 (6-of-12) but he failed to pass to a wide-open Jaylen Brown at the rim, instead opting for a 3-point shot on the break instead on two different possessions in the third quarter. Smart may have been hot in Game 1 but only Steph Curry should be turning down dunks for open 3s. Smart ended up making one of the two shots, giving the C’s three points instead of a sure four from the two possessions if he made the easy pass. Too much tunnel vision hurt Boston’s offense in Game 1 and they need to take easy points where they can get them as this series continues.

How will the Celtics try to slow down Dragic? He didn’t get as many of the headlines after Game 1 but the Heat point guard was a far bigger problem all night long than the likes of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, scoring a team-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He had his way with Walker on dribble drives and punished bigger Celtics defenders in switches by pulling up for 3 if they hung back to protect against his drives. The intriguing question for Game 2 is how will Stevens adjust better combat Dragic’s firepower. Can Walker step up to the challenge and be more of a deterrent against the crafty point guard? Or will Stevens elect to move a wing defender like Tatum onto Dragic who can bother him more with his length on shots? That type of choice would have a domino effect (Brown likely goes to Butler while Walker would guard Crowder). The guess here is that Walker gets one more crack at it to make up for a miserable defensive night for him but he should be on a short leash in this matchup.

Which Kemba Walker shows up? Three straight games of sub-32 percent shooting would set off alarms for any All-Star in the postseason but Walker's past physical concerns make it particularly worrisome. His 3-point shooting (5-of-36 in his last six games) has bene horrific and it’s no coincidence the Celtics have lost four of those six contests. The team needs him to find a rhythm offensively and it looks like that will be a priority for everyone on the roster in Game 2.

“We’ve gotta help him to get easy looks,” Daniel Theis said. “Especially me, I’ve got to get him open more on screens when he’s got the ball. Even the other guys, we’ve got to get him open when he’s off ball, we’ve got to set a screen for him so he’s coming off screens and get him a catch-and-shoot three instead of like just iso and off-the-dribble step-back threes. Especially in the beginning of the game, we need him out there, we need him to be aggressive. Like I said, we’ve gotta do a better job, especially early in the game to get him going so he’s feeling the game. We’ve got to get him open, get him easy layups or like an easy catch-and-shoot three.”

Despite the struggles, Stevens has indicated he’s not going to shy away from using his star just as much so the pressure is on Walker to prove himself capable of playing like his usual self with the big workload.

“I don't lose any sleep over Kemba,” Stevens said. “Nobody cares more than Kemba. Nobody wants to play better. We are constantly going to the drawing board to figure out how we can make his life a little bit easier from our own perspectives. So we'll keep riding him.”