10 takeaways from Celtics-Heat Game 2

Spo coached a masterclass AND the Heat got lucky. That's what it takes to beat these Celtics.

Miami just won’t give up the ghost.

Even after a mediocre regular season, even after losing two of their three only best ballhandlers in Terry Rozier and superstar Jimmy Butler (and that’s not counting the long-injured Josh Richardson), the Heat are still fighting the good fight.

They played a nearly perfect game Wednesday night, and it was barely enough to hold off an uninspired Boston squad. But the series is tied 1-1. It’s another reminder that the Celtics never make it easy on themselves.

Here are two fewer than a dozen thoughts and observations about Game 2.

1) There was an interesting back-and-forth on NBA Twitter around this game, in which the Heat shot 50% or better from deep against the Celtics for the fourth time in the last nine playoff games. Plenty of people were quick to credit coach Erik Spoelstra for the Heat’s surprising win, which prompted an immediate backlash sarcastically noting that coaches can’t “adjust” their way into a 23-for-43 shooting night from deep.

Both parties are correct. Coaches can only scheme guys open, not make the shots for them. But Spoelstra completely upended the way the Heat usually play to adjust to the Celtics, and it worked (barely).

2) Let’s begin with Miami’s defense. Spoelstra finally started Bam Adebayo on Jayson Tatum and Nikola Jovic on Boston center Kristaps Porzingis.

The Heat went against many of their core defensive principles on this one. They switched aggressively but refused to overhelp on drives from players like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, or even Jaylen Brown. Instead of the snarling, amorphous blob defense they usually run, with its random doubles, aggressive help, and constant ball pressure, Spo instructed Heat defenders to take away the three-pointer and live with being beaten one-on-one. The Heat typically prefer to pack the paint and send hard closeouts, so it was weird seeing everyone tied so closely to their man (Caleb Martin was a notable exception, as he did his usual digs and late-shot-clock doubles).

3) The adjustment successfully limited Boston’s perimeter opportunities. Boston only got up 32 three-point attempts, below their season average, and shot just 25-of-48 on twos — not good enough. Tatum had some nice drives but also missed some midranges. He grew visibly frustrated as the game wore on. The Heat’s refusal to overhelp also limited his playmaking (just three assists).

Jaylen Brown had plenty of isolations on Tyler Herro, but Herro held up well enough — much of Jaylen’s success was in Boston’s few transition opportunities or from deep. He didn’t have as much success in a halfcourt isolation setting. Although Brown had an efficient shooting night overall, he, too, was a limited passer (one assist).

The overall effect of Miami’s defense was to limit Boston’s ball movement and force them into stagnant offense. It worked. Boston only notched 31 potential assists (passes that would have led to an assist if the shot had gone in); they averaged 46 during the regular season. Particularly in the second half, too many possessions looked like this:

4) Boston’s defense, on the other hand, confused me. They continue to sag heavily off Miami’s role players, the Caleb Martins and Haywood Highsmiths of the world, to take away drives (particularly from Tyler Herro). Mathematically, I get it, but that might not be the right strategy.

The scouting report on Herro is that he can’t get to the hoop. A paltry 13% of his field goal attempts come at the rim, and he’s bad at converting them. While Herro has a nice handle and shot, he doesn’t have the burst to beat guys off the bounce consistently.

So it’s perplexing that Boston feels compelled to pack the paint against Herro drives. It’s even more perplexing that he couldn’t get into the teeth of the defense and still tallied 14 assists.

Blown coverages were a problem. I have no idea why Jaylen Brown jumped so aggressively into the paint on this Herro drive right into a waiting Porzingis, leaving Nikola Jovic wide open in the strong-side corner:

But some of Herro’s passing success was simply the product of great vision and unselfishness from Herro. He could have easily taken this three after Derrick White tripped, and it would’ve been a good shot! Instead, he sensed something better was coming and made the perfect little move to spring open a lurking Bam Adebayo:

That’s the kind of pass that Herro makes infrequently but just often enough to make you wonder why he doesn’t do it more. Well, he did it more Wednesday night.

Herro was aided by Nikola Jovic, who dropped six dimes himself, and Caleb Martin, who nearly doubled his time of possession with the ball from Game 1 and hunted his offense with ferocity. This is the same kind of shot he consistently nailed against the Celtics in last year’s playoffs but basically hasn’t hit against any other opponent:

(Interestingly, the Heat’s shooting explosion occurred despite just two triples combined between Duncan Robinson, who could not stop hacking every Celtic in sight, and Kevin Love, who played only six minutes.)

5) The Celtics don’t need to do so much helping. The Heat have few players who are true one-on-one bucket-getters, particularly when the Celtics have four or five strong defenders on the floor. If Tyler Herro decides to turn into the Human Torch against Jrue Holiday and Derrick White in isolation, fine. You like those odds, and you live with the results. But letting him get 14 assists, nearly all from the perimeter, is unacceptable.

6) We need to talk about Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis, too. Brad Stevens brought KP in to be a defensive deterrent and ace-in-the-hole against switching defenses. Could he punish smaller guys in the post on mismatches?

Defensively, Porzingis essentially did his job. The Heat didn’t shoot much at the rim, and he forced several turnovers. Offensively, however, he was invisible. He was one of the league’s best post players in the regular season but shot just 1-for-5 from two-point range in this game despite favorable matchups. He got the switch onto Tyler Herro numerous times and rarely made the Heat pay. You don’t need to try and draw a foul here; just shoot normally!

Porzingis was a -32 in the 30 minutes he played in a 10-point loss, which was entirely due to the team’s inability to score (the defense was great with Porzingis on the court, even if he was responsible for several open three-pointers). In the 18 minutes he didn’t play, the Celtics outscored Miami by 22 points. Yikes.

7) Let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here. We just talked for 1,000 words about how great Miami was and how poorly Boston played… and it almost didn’t matter. Boston’s talent advantage is so overwhelming that they nearly pulled this one out anyway.

Boston’s defensive strategy did, in one sense, accomplish its goal: Miami absolutely could not score in the paint except on Bam isolations. He can hit those shots, and he played very well. But if that’s the sole source of two-point field goals, Miami will need several more shooting miracles to keep up the pace.

I’m torn. It’s easy to assume that Miami won’t shoot 50% from three forever, but Celtics fans vomit in their mouths every time they hear that. Boston has to slide out a little more to the perimeter. Without Butler or Rozier, Miami doesn’t have great individual drivers and finishers. I don’t think they can punish Boston at the rim, even if given more opportunity. At the very least, I’d like to see Boston make Miami prove they can make a layup before they start helping off Martin and Jovic again.

8) Boston’s biggest offensive problem, in my opinion, was one that has often bugged them in crunchtime situations: pace. Miami had zero second-half turnovers, killing their transition game. Boston seemed content to walk the ball up and slowly get into their halfcourt sets, and by the time the initial action was underway, the shot clock was already a factor. Boston is at its best when its strong drive-and-kick game is whirring. With Miami determined to limit the “kick” part, Boston’s successful drives in the first half turned into meandering midrangers and difficult mismatch hunting by the end of the game. The Celtics scored just 40 points in the second half.

There are ways to fix this. According to Synergy, Boston only ran 17 pick-and-rolls in the entire game compared to Miami’s 43 such possessions. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but going to more P&R will at least stress Miami’s defense and open up some cracks. Most importantly, it will introduce movement into the Boston offense.

The Celtics also need to go faster off defensive rebounds and turnovers. If the halfcourt offense is stuck in the mud, push the pace. Boston scored 1.2 points per transition possession in this game, but much of that came off first-half Miami turnovers. Even if the turnovers aren’t coming, they need to get into their offense quicker to find better shots.

9) Boston did plenty of things right. They protected the glass, holding Miami to just four offensive rebounds. In the first half, they forced 12 turnovers, and they only had 12 turnovers themselves for the entire game.

Theoretically, Boston wins nine of these games out of 10. But in the real world, they’ve now played this exact movie without changing the ending a concerning number of times. Something has to give, right?

The Celtics will emerge victorious. They completely and utterly dominated Game 1 and will likely dominate Games 3, 4, and 5, too. Porzingis won’t be this bad again, nor will Payton Pritchard or Jrue Holiday. The Heat, presumably, will miss a triple at some point.

10) But that’s not really the point of any 1-8 playoff matchup. This should be a tune-up for the Celtics; they need to get under the hood and start tinkering.

Boston can win this series without adjusting much, but they can’t win the Finals with just one set of principles. I’ve spent all season talking about how impressed I was with Joe Mazzulla’s coaching; now’s the time for him to prove me right.