Final: Celtics 102, Heat 88 - White dominates, but C's lose Porzingis

BOSTON CELTICS at MIAMI HEAT

Eastern Conference first round, Game 4

Kaseya Center, 7:30 p.m. - TNT/NBCS Boston

Line: Boston -10.5

INJURIES

Boston: None

Miami: Jimmy Butler (knee, OUT), Terry Rozier (neck, OUT), Josh Richardson (shoulder, OUT)

SERIES 

Game 1: Celtics 114 - Heat 94 

The Celtics came out strong, scoring the first 14 points of the game, but Miami was able to answer and cut the lead to five by the break. The Celtics poured it on from 3 and got their lead to 18 before it settled at 15 at the half. The Celtics dominated the third quarter thanks to 10 each from Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, and then they completely let up to start the fourth, watching a 34-point lead drop to 14 before they recovered to win by 20. 

Game 2: Heat 111 - Celtics 101

Miami came out firing, hitting 8-15 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a one-point lead. Brown dropped 15 in the second quarter, 11 of them in the final 1:55 to help Boston retake the lead at the half. Miami went on a huge run to start the third quarter and built a lead as high as 12 as the 3-pointers kept falling, but Boston was able to cut it to six heading into the final quarter. They didn’t make much progress after that, never getting the lead below five. 

Game 3: Celtics 104 - Heat 84

The first quarter was part defensive battle, part cold shooting, with the teams combining to shoot 14-45 from the field. The Celtics hit nine of those and led 21-12, a lead they immediately increased against Miami’s zone. Then White and Jayson Tatum fueled a big finish to the half to give Boston a 24-point halftime lead. Miami made a push early in the third but Boston not only held them off, they ended up adding two points to their lead. Miami stayed feisty in the fourth, but it never got uncomfortable for Boston.

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Tempo: The Celtics need to play with good pace to be at their best. Miami tends to want to slow the Celtics down, so something is going to have to give here. Unless, of course, Miami throws a wrinkle at Boston. 

“I think the first game they tried to get us into playing slow and the third game was trying to get us into playing slower but in the second game, it was extremely fast,” Brown said. “Just gotta be ready for whatever adjustments to be made and we got to play Celtic basketball, and I think we’ll be fine.” 

Celtics basketball, no matter what, is about playing with good pace. That pace shows up in two places. First, the box score lines of guys like White and Porzingis. 

“I thought the faster we play, it gives up open shots to other guys,” Joe Mazzulla said at the team’s practice. “ And so we played with a different level of tempo which allows us to get and get some crossmatches, get guys off the body, and get to the second and third side, so he was able to take advantage of that.”

Getting guys other than Tatum and Brown their looks is incredibly important. That's what was missing in Game 2, but established early in Game 3. If White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday can give Boston an offensive boost, then the floor will end up being spread against a rotating defense. 

Which leads to the second element of good pace, attacking the mismatches quickly, like Brown did against Tyler Herro in Game 3. 

"It’s not about attacking mismatches, it’s about just getting them away from the guy that they want to guard,” Mazzulla said. “That’s another way of playing with pace is quick attacks, quick movements, micro-movements, those little things that open up small levels of space to be able to play whether that’s a roll, a pop or something in transition. So that’s important.”

2. Establish Porzingis ASAP: Like I mentioned, that tempo will open things up for everybody, but getting Porzingis the touches he needs will be a priority. 

“He’s probably our most important guy on our team for what we’re trying to accomplish,” Tatum said after Game 3. “So no doubt in my mind, I knew he was going to have a better game and bounce back. And just the way he started out the game on both ends of the floor, being active, when he’s protecting the rim, contesting shots, we’re a whole different team.”

The Celtics need to be aware of feeding Porzingis early in the game and making Miami aware of the ball movement. Erik Spoelstra will try to find a way to negate Porzingis again, so the Celtics have to make sure he’s involved in the actions. 

3. Prepare for another 3-point barrage: Bam Adebayo said he feels like “a lot of guys passed up open shots that they should’ve shot” in Game 3. The Celtics have to be prepared for quick shots and crashing for offensive rebounds. 

This is where the muscle memory kicks in for Miami. If Boston can play higher on the ball and close out to shooters, Miami’s muscle memory of attacking closeouts and getting to the rim kicks in more often. When they see a green jersey running at them, instinct takes over. 

So the closeouts still have to be there and be under control. Miami’s shooters aren’t that good, so even if they put up 40 shots, they probably won’t hit 50% of them against good defense. 

4. Don’t fall for the chippiness: Miami is going to needle the Celtics in this game. They're looking for anything that can get Boston frustrated, so don’t fall for those tricks. 

“We got to expect Miami to come out desperate,” Brown said. “They don't want to go down 3-1, so they're gonna come out physical. We can't expect any calls, you can’t expect it not to be physical. We just got to embrace it.”

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.