This is one of the most frustrating and accurate parts of these playoffs. Miami has played lights out and looks like the best team in the East. We have seen situations like this in the NHL, where a team squeaks into the playoffs and gets on a roll, but it doesn’t normally happen in the NBA. Miami has shown how meaningless regular season success is when your team is ready and has the right focus for. playoff run.
they have often shown at times when are vulnerable--double teaming Butler, running on them and high pick and roll the other game they could not defend against--do this with discipline and you beat them and come on they have guys that are not great defenders--got at them and post up against Bam to wear him down--too easy on Heat D when we get into the lazy 3 mode
Miami was almost eliminated in the play in, this isn’t like some team playing possum. They remind me of the 2013 Red Sox, except Miami has turned it on for the playoffs whereas somehow that 2013 Sox team like everyone had a career year at the same time over the course of 180 games.
Kemba Huskies, perhaps?
Great post. Your last line is what I've been seeing as well, and I'm a dummy when it comes to Xs and Os. Lots of half-assed attempts at D, but little intensity, urgency or committment.
completely agree. Wide open 3’s coming from over-helping, and honestly just not putting enough effort and focus into rotating properly. Contrast it with how Miami’s alleged weak defenders are mucking up the Celtics half court o and it’s night and day.
Good post and certainly the Heat are playing really well over the last couple of weeks but what I don't get at all is that this is basically the same team BOS beat last year. It would be one thing if this was a team like Orlando that came out of nowhere and BOS had to prepare for on the fly but BOS's played this team, what, 15 times in the last two years so everyone should know what works and what doesn't work.
Agree with this. Whenever MIA needs a bucket, they can post Butler up and he can go to work. Whether he passes out of it, or takes a shot, it tends to be a really good look.
Kind of like "there is no such thing as clutch hitting"... until David Ortiz walks in the stadium.
Wow, what a crazy stat. Celtics are 29% and the Heat are 52%. That’s pretty much the series right there
Yeah. I don't think the Celtics have played well on defense and they have too many turnovers, but they are generating open looks on offense and they're not falling. I think some of this is the Heat getting in their head and being tight or whatever, that could explain some of the airballs last night, but with some normal luck the first two games would have been coinflips.
Jaylen, Al and Brogdon all air-balled open 3's, pretty jarring to see.
I've been assured this is a "make or miss league". Coaching and defensive commitment don't matter, apparently.
These same pundits are already discounting Miami's chances against Denver, which, on paper, has the better roster. We've seen how much that matters in these playoffs.
Was thinking this too. It felt almost like an option Butler used early to get a feel for the shot. It’s not easy to master (duh) but it’s almost sky hook-y in that it’s not really defensible.
If Miami wins the title, they will have knocked off both #1 seeds and a 3rd team that was the title favorite for most of the regular season and playoffs. There were no world beaters this year, but on paper that's gotta be one of the most impressive playoff runs of all time.
I don't think so, I think it's the result of Miami moving the ball around until they find someone open for an open shot.
yup. That’s the substantive thing that has changed defensively—they are not consistently able to stop at the point of attack. How much of that is effort I don’t know (DuncanRobinsondoing it is effort/focus for example) but smart, Al, tl, Brogdon all a half step less quick and that matters
If you look at this series, it absolutely is a make or miss league. Miami is historically hot, Boston is ice cold. It's pretty simple, really.
Almost like the 1995 Houston Rockets when they ran the gauntlet as the 6 seed....They beat the top 3 seeds in the west plus the 1 seed in the east (Orlando) in the finals all without home court advantage. The biggest difference though was that Rockets team was probably significantly better than this Miami team. Hakeem Olajuwan and Clyde Drexler both missed time in the 2nd half of the season and both got healthy before the playoffs and that team was a beast when their stars were healthy.
Boston is being outplayed and outcoached. So, no, "we" are not just chalking it up to bad shooting luck, although it has been a contributing factor.
It's so infrequent for anything like that to happen in the NBA, so kudos to the Heat for what could very well be a historic run if they were to go all the way.
Win game 4 by hook or by crook.
There’s definitely an outline for a comeback. You have to imagine the shooting goes cold, not a dig at the Heat, it’s just that they are making shots at a historic clip.
Also that team was defending champions so they already knew what it took to get there, plus Hakeem was the best player in the league then.
This has to be one of the best teams ever to be down 0-3 in a series, right? Especially considering it’s not due to injury. They absolutely have the talent to win multiple games in a row against this Miami team. Maybe not 4, but enough to make things interesting. Will they lock in and do it? Seems like a pipe dream at this point, but if there was ever a team capable of pulling off the first 0-3 miracle it is this Celtics team. It’s going to happen at some point. It’s extremely unlikely but I’ll still be watching tomorrow.
Yeah and Hakeem showing up The Admiral and Shaq in back to back series was the stuff of legends. He was ridiculous that playoffs. I think one of those games was when David Robinson received his MVP award too and then Hakeem went out and utterly schooled him.
100%. On paper they absolutely have the goods. Before last game's abomination, I would have said that this team always comes out and fights when their back are against the wall.
My guess is that not being a historically awful shooting team would be a big part of “solving” Miami’s defense. Any offense is going to look bad shooting under 30% on open threes, but one that is designed to get open threes is going to look particularly bad.
I agree with this. I was not so disappointed going into the second half last night because yet another role player shot lights-out, and I thought they had a shot if they bore down and played a good second half, but they way they responded was pretty pathetic -- losing guys on defense even more and getting upset at the refs.
They absolutely can at least win the next two and make things uncomfortable for Miami, but I have a strong inclination that they’re going to come out somewhat energized to start tomorrow then quickly wilt and fall apart when Miami makes a run and it ends up being a fairly comfortable Miami close out win. I’m all for “why not us” but this cake seems baked.
The 2004 Sox were actually a much better team than the Yankees but dug a huge hole. Teams with much more talent rarely get down 0-3. This Celtics team qualifies.
If this happens then you have to imagine that, at the very least, Mazzulla gets fired right?
Sheesh...that interview didn't exactly fill me with confidence for tomorrows game
I’d expect one of the best crowds of the playoffs. Thursday night, tickets I’m sure will be less expensive than previous games. If they win tomorrow and then come out strong in Game 5 the crowd is going to fully lean into 2004 ALCS and 28-3 and it’s going to get loud.
