Celtics stage up protection in Sport 3 win over Warmth: 'We performed more durable' – Celtics Weblog

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Boston held Miami to only 84 factors in Sport 3.
The Miami Warmth made historical past of their Game 2 win over the Boston Celtics. They poured in 23 three-pointers, falling simply two in need of the NBA file for many made in a playoff recreation.
A mixture of outlandish shot-making and poor Celtics protection contributed to the feat, however Boston’s lackluster displaying stood out most. They gave Miami far an excessive amount of area to shoot, and ultimately, gamers who usually aren’t an enormous menace from exterior handed the Celtics a loss at TD Backyard.
Main as much as Sport 3 on Saturday, the Celtics had been calm. There was no sense of panic. There have been no exaggerations. “There’s no motive for us to overreact,” Kristaps Porzingis stated at follow on Thursday.
Boston blew the doorways off of Miami in Sport 3. They earned a 20-point win, holding the Warmth to only 84 factors within the course of. It was an unbelievable defensive displaying that helped the Celtics get again to their Sport 1 success.
However Joe Mazzulla doesn’t just like the phrase changes.
“Yeah, I imply, that phrase, it’s simply such a set off phrase round this time of 12 months,” Mazzulla stated post-game. “We didn’t make too many changes. We performed somewhat bit tougher. We performed more durable. We dictated the physicality and the tempo of the sport.
“And it’s the easy issues that you need to do underneath the next stage of stress, the next stage of adversity. So, I assumed our guys did an amazing job of dictating that right now.”
The Celtics put their all into each defensive resolution they made on Saturday.
If their Sport 2 selection was a weak closeout on a median three-point shooter, they had been sprinting to the road in Sport 3. If their Sport 2 selection was a sluggish path over a Bam Adebayo display, they had been virtually connected to Tyler Herro in Sport 3.
“Simply play tougher,” Mazzulla stated of Boston’s improved protection on Herro. “Be extra related. Be extra bodily.”
By the definition of the phrase, the Celtics made changes. However they weren’t main adjustments of their defensive philosophy. As an alternative, they merely attacked their assignments with a higher objective. And that was the distinction.
“Giving up offensive rebounds, closeouts—we might have had some higher closeouts in Sport 2,” Jayson Tatum stated. “We form of gave them some walk-up threes and issues like that. Simply higher at contesting. It was form of an effort factor.”
Proper from the beginning, the Celtics had been locked in on protection. The Warmth solely managed to scrape collectively 12 first-quarter factors. In 1 / 4 the place the Celtics scored simply 21, they wanted the defensive displaying they put collectively.
After trying 43 photographs from past the arc on Wednesday, the Warmth solely took 28 in Sport 3 — from 23 made threes to only 9. A 42-point distinction between the 2 video games.
Boston trusted the mathematics, however solely within the sense that they made a concerted effort to enhance their shot profile whereas concurrently worsening Miami’s.
The maths involving permitting sure gamers room to shoot was thrown out the window.
“It was somewhat little bit of that. No dare photographs. Respecting these guys’ capabilities,” Jaylen Brown stated. “They’re NBA gamers, they usually could make photographs on any given night time. So, treating them accordingly, closing out, simply making them uncomfortable. After which on the opposite facet, simply executing the offense.”
Jrue Vacation didn’t try a shot within the first half, but he was a team-high +23 in that point. Payton Pritchard battled over each decide he was thrown into. Kristaps Porzingis secured the paint towards Adebayo, who dominated the mid-range within the fourth quarter of Sport 2.
Everybody up and down the roster made it their mission to stage up the protection.
“Particular person protection. Workforce protection,” Mazzulla stated. “I assumed Jrue was nice. I don’t know when he received his first shot, however I assumed he dictated the defensive tempo of the sport. I assumed Tatum answered the decision defensively. I assumed KP and Al did an amazing job.
“I assumed everybody- I assumed our bench got here in and actually pushed the tempo on each ends of the ground. So, simply related, robust, bodily, particular person protection. Workforce protection.”
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