The Celtics' shots were falling last night, but to me what really mattered was the defense they played. Lots of ball pressure, lots of steals, they were commited to not giving Miami an easy time of it. The defensive intensity reminded me a bit of game 2 in Philly. Not only were they able to get stops, they were able to run, and absent the occasional Brown tunnel vision or Smart brain crap bad pass, their transition offense is good and they make good decisions. Even when the defense gets back, there are benefits to pushing the ball. Last night, Horford got an opportunity to post up Kyle Lowry because running creates mismatches.
That is what they need to do to win. They cannot count on their offense, which continues to mostly be a stagnant, perimieter-oriented mess that is driven by hot shooting streaks and occasionally our star players doing stars thing. Even tonight they were infuriating to watch at times. Even though they can break the zone pretty easily by getting the ball to Tatum or Horford in the middle, they will usually go through several bad possessions against the zone before it occurs to them to try it. They have almost no motion and cutting, and there is always that potential for them to be shut down for long stretches.
So, to win, they need to defend and then to run.
How much of the new (for this series) aggression was the home fans? the absence of Gabe Vincent which limited the number of healthy Miami ballahandlers?
I think on the plus side, they may have finally discovered the identity they need to win. On the downside, maybe Vincent is back and the Miami role players play better in game 6. Also, Highsmith showed something yesterday: he played 36 minutes and was a +2, while the team was a -15 in the 12 minutes he didn't play. The fossilized remains of Kevin Love started and was -10 in the first 5 minutes. Miami is probably not making that mistake again.
I think this will be a defensive rock fight that either team could win, or, less likely, a Miami blowout win.