After staking their claim as giant killers in the Eastern Conference after vanquishing Kevin Durant/Kyrie Irving and Giannis Antetokounmpo in back-to-back rounds, the Celtics are facing a different challenge in their conference-final bout with the Miami Heat.
Sure, Miami’s roster is loaded with talent — headlined by Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro. But after game-planning entire series around taking away unquestioned top options against both the Nets and the Bucks, Miami presented a different challenge for Boston in terms of their depth — and a pretty hefty chip on their shoulder.
Despite entering the 2022 postseason as the top seed in the East, the Heat have carried themselves as underdogs since this series was matched up over the weekend — a far-from-shocking development for a team anchored by a leader in Butler who likely keeping a running log in his head of every tangible and perceived slight he’s ever received.
When Miami is executing Erik Spoelstra’s strategy, they can win in a variety of ways — utilizing pick-and-rolls and dribble hand-offs, while often throwing a variety of different looks on defense in order to frustrate an opponent down the other end of the court.
But regardless of the manner in which they’re exploiting matchups on the court, it’s safe to assume that the Heat are also going to try and punch you in the mouth while doing it.
“I like physicality,” Butler said on Tuesday night. “Like, I want to run into people and see who falls down first, who is going to quit first. I think that's the style of basketball I like to play.”
And in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics spent most of the second half trying to push air back into their lungs — with Butler (41 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks) and the Heat knocking the wind out of Boston by way of a steamrolling beatdown in the third quarter.
“I've said it all year long, whenever we let our defense dictate our offense, we are a much better team,” Butler said following Miami’s 118-107 victory over Boston. “We get stops. We get into the open floor. We whip that ball around to our shooters. That's the style of basketball we call Miami Heat basketball. Gritty, dog-like, worried about getting stops instead of worried about getting buckets.”
Butler and his supporting cast put together a signature “Miami Heat basketball” performance thanks to that third-quarter salvo (outscoring the C’s, 39-14). But for most of the first half, it looked as though Ime Udoka’s team was putting forth its own trademark showing in enemy territory.
Even without both Al Horford and Marcus Smart, the Celtics contained Miami for extended stretches thanks to a suffocating defensive effort. Jayson Tatum continued to elevate his game with 21 first-half points. Rob Williams and his knee looked no worse for wear with 12 points. Payton Pritchard dropped 10 points off the bench, and a fantastic block from Aaron Nesmith helped spark what was a 20-7 run at one point for the visitors.
But the Celtics are far from the only club left in this playoff bracket that has developed a knack for scrapping back into games and executing off adjustments.
“I feel like our energy shifted,” Adebayo said. “That was the biggest thing. Our energy shifted and we started getting stops on defense and running, and getting in transition and the crowd got into it.”
The third quarter hasn’t always been kind to the Celtics this season — an ominous sign, considering that the Heat entered Tuesday’s game with the highest point differential in the third quarter this postseason (+77).
And sure enough, the Heat completely engulfed the Celtics coming out of halftime, capitalizing on just about every errant pass, miscommunication and lackadaisical play that Boston put forth.
With Adebayo and P.J. Tucker (back on the court after rolling his ankle in the first half) patrolling the paint — coupled with Butler pestering ball handlers and lurking around passing lanes — the Celtics’ offense ground to a halt.
“I don't even know what his stat line was -- but you're talking about one of the toughest covers,” Butler said of Tucker and his defensive impact. “And then when he's on the weak side, he does all the right things. He's like a great linebacker. He just gets everybody organized and he communicates so well.
The Celtics scored 42 points in the paint in the first half, just two points shy of the postseason record in a half since the NBA first began tracking the stat over 25 years ago. In the second half, they only mustered six points in the paint.
By the end of the night, the Heat swatted away 12 Celtics shots — the most blocks recorded against Boston since the Cavs reached the same number back on April 22, 2018.
“Started guarding,” Tucker said of what orchestrated Miami’s second-half surge. “Started taking pride in getting kills. At the end of the day, that's what it comes down to, getting into situations where they call people up, it's having the right coverage, being aggressive, staying in front of, moving feet, not fouling, doing all of that. You have multiple efforts. It's Conference Finals. Can't just do one thing; two, three, four, five things, in a single possession sometimes, whatever it takes. But we finally got that effort in the second half.”
Of course, one haymaker delivered by Miami doesn’t mean that the C’s are seeing stars on the mat.
With both Smart and Horford expected back at some point this week (be it in Game 2 or back in Boston), the Celtics will be better equipped at stemming the tide during Miami’s momentum-shifting surges.
Boston could draw some silver linings from the fact that they actually cut into Miami’s deficit down the final stretch of the fourth quarter, and should expect a better showing from Jaylen Brown for the rest of the series.
But after just about every C’s player spent the last two weeks getting bowled over by Antetokounmpo, Boston might need to order a few more ice packs down in Miami.
Because Butler and the Heat are going to try and land as many punches as they can against this Celtics team — especially with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
“We're accustomed to getting multiple stops in a row, like I'm sure Boston feels the same way,” Spoelstra said. “You have two teams that are kind of mirror images just in terms of the competitiveness defensively, and when that's not happening, there's a lot of emotions. There can be disappointment, frustration, anger, like all of that, and that's what this whole series is going to be about.”
