Five tweaks for the Celtics to consider to keep season alive against Heat

With the Celtics season on the line entering Game 5 on Friday night, here's a look at five ways the Celtics can fight back against the Heat and force a Game 6. 

1. Get the ball in Gordon Hayward’s hands more and think about starting him: The 30-year-old ranks sixth in usage among C's players in this series, which has made him an afterthought in Boston’s offense over the last two games. With some of his rust gone after his five-week layoff, it’s time to get him more prominently involved in an offense that has incredibly turnover prone. Marcus Smart (17 percent) and Brad Wanamaker (28 percent) have been the worst of the bunch, exactly what you don’t want from your point guards. Hayward, on the other hand, has been able to handle Miami’s pressure, posting the lowest turnover rate (9.7 percent) for any Celtics rotation player in this series. In a game where the C’s need to maximize every possession to match the Heat’s offensive firepower, Boston’s careless play with the basketball needs to come to an end in Game 5. Hayward has been steady with the ball in his return and he’s just as capable of a facilitator as Smart. Time to get him involved more to create for himself or others, a move that should help bring out the best in Boston’s offense for a full 48 minutes. Starting him to do it has to be considered as an option.

2. Put Marcus Smart and/or Gordon Hayward on Tyler Herro: Boston’s best defender did a nice job taking Goran Dragic out of rhythm in Games 3 and 4. However, Herro has emerged as the bigger problem in this series than the Heat point guard for Boston. He’s shooting over 50 percent from the field while averaging 20.5 ppg and is also dishing out 5.3 assists per game. Part of that production has been due to the Celtics not giving him the kind of respect he deserves as they have put weaker defenders on him (Kemba Walker, Brad Wanamaker) at points while putting their elite wings the likes of Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, and Dragic. That must change now. Hayward should be able to help with Herro but the rookie’s quickness will put a lot of pressure on Hayward from a mobility standpoint so the better bet here might just simply be to go with Smart as the predominant defender. The Celtics have done a much better job with Dragic in recent games after taking away drives to his left and adjusting pick-and-roll defense so that is a job that Hayward or Tatum should be able to take over with Smart turning his attention to Herro when moments they are matched up together on the floor.

3. Hide Kemba Walker on Andre Iguodala defensively: With the Heat going to small ball whenever Bam Adebayo was off the court in Game 4, Iguodala saw just about as many minutes in Game 4 (27) and he did in the first three games of the series combined (28). Iguodala has a big size advantage on Walker but he’s not an offensive threat at this point of his career, going just 2-of-8 from the field in four games in his series, including 2-of-7 from 3-point range. If Iguodala is going to play big minutes again over the rest of Miami’s bench, the Celtics need to keep Walker on him as much as possible to hide his defensive issues. Miami will try to target Walker anyway with switches but this will help take some pressure on the All-Star point guard and allow him to give Boston more of his best offensively instead of forcing him to chase around a shooter all night, something that wears him down.

4. Start attacking the paint again: The Celtics were trending nicely in Games 1-3, reducing 3-point shot attempts for higher percentage looks at the rim. However, they backslid in Game 4, with nearly 50 percent of their shot attempts coming from 3-point range (40 of 82), their highest percentage of the series. Miami has been daring the C’s to beat them from the outside with their 2-3 zone and the wrong guys in the C’s lineup (Smart) have been taking that bait. Better shot opportunities are available, especially when the Heat go small with Iguodala at center so the C’s need to continue to stay aggressive instead of settling. It requires patience and discipline against a savvy Miami defense but the easy looks are available at the Heat zone. I’d expect the coaching staff to continue to tweak Boston’s zone offense and give the C’s better ways to target a Heat defense that continues to put Boston out of rhythm periodically.

5. Start switching everything against shooters: Daniel Theis has held up well in this regard during this series and Miami has so many scoring weapons that it might be time to embrace this philosophy more even before the C’s go small. Walker can get into trouble in certain matchups but if he’s turning into a big defensive liability, the C’s will have the option of going with Smart over him and sticking with Theis in defensive late-game situations. Similarly, when Stevens goes to the bench, sticking with guys that can switch at center (Grant Williams) or just staying small with lineups more as a whole should help the C’s keep Miami’s shooters like Herro, Dragic and Robinson from getting clean looks. It will require a lot of discipline and effort from Boston on the glass to pull it off but that energy is going to be required anyway in a win or go home situation.