Post Game - Celtics vs. Miami Heat - Wednesday, May 01, 2024 - Game 5 Eastern Quarterfinals (W 4-1)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401655103

Hi,
Not much to talk about. Celtics played as they're supposed to play against the decimated opponent.
Now we wait to see who comes out CLE or ORL. And pray that KP fully recovers by the end of our series against one of them.

AK

I agree with Sinus, not much to talk about although, knowing me, I'll find something.  There would have been no other even remotely acceptable result against a team as depleted as Miami was last night.

Derrick killed them...again.

Gotta mention Sam with 17 on 6-10, 5-8 from 3, 5 rebounds in 29 minutes.  He'll be gone before the end of next season because I can't see Wyc being able to resign Derrick (after resigning Jrue, extending KP and Jaylen's new contract coming online) and still afford the money Sam will have earned himself.

Same with Luke.  I think this is the end of the line for Luke in green.  Memphis needs bigs and Luke has elevated his game to where he has gone from a "why is he still on the team?" player to a legit backup NBA big.  Credit, serious credit, needs to go to Luke for how well he defended Bam.  Luke ended up a +21 in 18 minutes.  Bam was actually passing out rather than shooting in the paint vs Luke.  He didn't even do that against KP or Al.  Kinda blew my mind a bit.  Luke Kornet?  Really, Bam?  Now there's some unspoken respect for you.

Jaylen with 25 on 11-19.  VERY efficient, except for the 1-7 from 3 and 5 turnovers.  <sigh>  If a player is shooting poorly from outside but can score at the rim at will why would they keep shooting from downrange?  I know scorers have to have little-to-no short-term memory but maybe some?

Miami shot 10% from 3.  Can't blame that on the absence of Jimmy, Scary Terry or Jaime.  Can't blame that on Spo, the players take the shots and not him.  That's on Pat Riley.  If you're going with a roster that's thin on bigs then you better load it up with perimeter shooters, and Pat didn't.  Pat Riley is 79 years old.  GMing isn't as grueling as coaching but maybe this is a good time for him to step down?  Jimmy Butler's going to be 35 years old in 4 months, but has another year at $49M and then a player option at age 36+ in 2025-2026 @ $52.4M.  Does he stick around to take ownership of his payroll draining contractual morass, or does he bail?  What kind of a GM would Spo make?

The reports are that Kevin Love is not considering retiring. He played 3 minutes last night, 32 total in 5 games. He scored a grand total of 9 points and grabbed a total of 14 rebounds. 14 rebounds in 32 minutes is really good, but the rest is not. You're rich Kevin, even richer than your famous uncle Mike. You don't need to be an end-of-bencher on an NBA minimum contract.


We now await the winner of the Cleveland-Orlando series.  Ironically, with Porzingis' injury, I think we got the tougher series than if we had the winner of the NY-Philly series.  Players are dropping like flies in that series while Cleveland's bigs are finally all healthy.  Let's root for that series to go 7.  If KP is out 3-6 weeks we want him to get as much rest as he can while missing the fewest games.  The likelihood, which we must face, is that Zinger will miss the entire next round.  All of it.  And that's why GMOY Brad Stevens stole Xavier Tillman for the price of a 2nd round pick.  Al, the new-and-improved Green Kornet and X is a front court that can hold the fort for a series.  


Bob


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https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/05/joe-mazzulla-makes-savvy-move-to-fuel-celtics-game-5-rout-vs-heat-robb.html



Joe Mazzulla makes savvy move to fuel Celtics Game 5 rout vs. Heat


Published: May. 02, 2024, 6:00 a.m.


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



Before Wednesday night, Game 5s had been a house of horrors at TD Garden in recent years for the Celtics. The team dropped two of their three contests last postseason on the Garden parquet and went 0-2 at home in Game 5s during their NBA Finals run. The shorthanded Heat came into the Garden in Game 5 facing a 3-1 hole as heavy underdogs but recent letdowns still cast a shadow over this group. Would they be able to take care of business promptly to get some extra rest for the long playoff grind?


With Kristaps Porzingis out of the lineup with a calf strain, tweaks were inevitable for Joe Mazzulla’s rotation. Luke Kornet entered the fold at center with Al Horford’s promotion to the starting five. Yet, Mazzulla and the coaching staff did more to ensure there would be no repeat of recent Game 5 letdowns.


A 41-point scoring eruption in the first quarter could be traced back to a couple of subtle moves that went a long way for Boston to quickly turn an elimination game for Miami into a rout.


TAKING AWAY MIAMI’S RIM PROTECTION WITH JAYSON TATUM

The Heat made the decision after Game 1 to have Bam Adebayo spend a lot more time defending Jayson Tatum. That trend continued out of the gate in Game 5 where Adebayo was the All-Star primary defender.

The move makes sense in some ways for Miami. With Adebayo on Tatum, there’s less of a need for double teams on the superstar and that helps Miami survive if they can hold up in their other individual matchups.

Mazzulla saw this tactic and made a point of emphasis to use it against the Heat particularly well in Game 5. Miami has no meaningful rim protection and plenty of subpar defenders when Adebayo is otherwise occupied out of the paint. So Boston made a point to keep Tatum far away from offensive actions in the early part of the first quarter.

With Tatum on the other side of the floor or outside the arc, Adebayo’s ability to be a help defender was thwarted constantly. It’s hard to get across the floor as is and leaving Tatum open is not really an option. Mazzulla and to his credit, Tatum, were happy to take Adebayo out of the equation and let Boston’s supporting cast feast against what was left of Miami’s defense.


The impact was evident throughout the 41-point first quarter. Jaylen Brown’s first post up on Tyler Herro of the game? Easy move as Tatum watched from the opposite corner. Brown and Derrick White took turns attacking the rim, setting up easy baskets for themselves and their teammates as Tatum watched from a distance (with Adebayo nearby).

Boston had 10 consecutive makes at one point with Tatum not even attempting a field goal until 1:41 remaining in the first quarter. The Heat elected to play small (Delon Wright started for Jamie Jaquez) and the Celtics were happy to make them pay with their unique tactic.

Ultimately, Tatum elected to get involved directly in the offense when there was an easy mismatch for him to attack (Kevin Love). A couple of pick-and-rolls involving Love in the action led to three straight open 3s for Tatum and Sam Hauser, opening the floodgates for Boston’s offense on their way to 41 points in the first quarter on 66.7 percent shooting.


A CHANGE IN SUB PATTERN

Another vital change by Mazzulla with Tatum came with his rotation shifts. All series long, Tatum had come out of the game after six minutes for a quick early rest. This time around, Mazzulla opted to step on Miami’s throat early, keeping Tatum in the game for 20 straight minutes to start. He ultimately played 23 of 24 minutes in the first half as Boston built a 23-point lead.

The subtle move went a long way as the Celtics’ aggressiveness with minutes paid off. Tatum and company built up a 30-point lead by the end of the third quarter giving all of Boston’s regulars ample rest in the final frame as Erik Spoelstra pulled his own starters early.

Mazzulla has rarely shifted from his rotation patterns all year long but he saw a clear opportunity here to push his chips in now in order to get more rest for this group later. Those tactics could end up going a long way with at least three days of rest coming up for this group as they await their second-round opponent.


FINAL THOUGHTS

Mazzulla and the Celtics coaching staff had a tough night in Game 2 but they bounced back quite well over the remainder of the series. A massive defensive bounce back in Game 3 put Boston in control of the series and a savvy tweak in Game 5 helped the team land a knockout punch. Talentwise, this series shouldn’t have gone longer than five games but that hasn’t stopped this group from making life harder than it needed to in the past. Mazzulla did his part to make sure history didn’t repeat itself this time around.


Bob


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Yes, we took care of business, but this is an important win. Now we get some rest and can focus on the next round. The next round will be tougher as we won't have KP.

D White was our best player in this series. He did it on both ends of the floor. Kudos to him, we need him to keep this up, as his production is key. I thought JT was also excellent. He didn't force anything, and made the right plays. He averaged 10.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists to lead the team in both categories. Jaylen plays so hard and is so talented but his FT shooting and turnovers continue to be a problem. He shot 45% from the FT line in this series. . That is just unacceptable. He needs to shoot a couple hundred FTs everyday to figure this out because this is going to cost us at some point!! The amazing thing is he still led the team in scoring and also played great defense. Give CJ some credit also. He didn't panic after game 2, and kept the team focused and engaged.

Maybe the best thing that comes out of this 5 game series is a real life tune up for what lies ahead.

Defense wins championships.  The Celtics defense was the best that it has been all year long.  And with the Heat missing Both Butler and Rozier, the Celtics task was easier.

Nobody cares about who played.  Last year when JT turned the ankle a minute into the 7th game, the remarkable comeback, after being down 0-3, became a footnote.  

Exorcising the demon early is a good thing.

The Celtics held the Heat below 90 points in 3 games and below 100 in 4 out of 5 games.  When you add it all up, the Celtics only allowed 92.2 PPG.  The Celtics offense was subpar as compared to the regular season.  They only managed to score 107.8 PPG against the Heat.  But the differential was eye popping at 15.6

THE MVP of this series was Derrick White.  Maybe we underestimated his value as just a real solid role guy who could fit in with any combination of players.  To the contrary, D White is a star.  His shooting splits were off the charts (57.7/47.7/90)  He ended up second on the team behind JB in PPG at 22.4

The strength on this team is the depth on this team.  With JB and JT accounting for hideous 3 point shooting results (32.1 and 29% respectively)  D White led the team in attempts 8.8 and was  was 2nd in percentage at 47.7 behind Sam Hauser (48% on 5 attempts per game)  The Celtics still shot 38.5% from deep.

JT was dominant on the glass (10.4) rebounds and he led the team in assists at 5.4 but his overall offense was below average.  Not only did he struggle from deep but his overall FG percentage was only 41.6%  He still averaged 21.8 PPG in the series because he got 9 FT attempts per game.

JB also shot the deep ball poorly however JB knows how to score at the rim and in the midrange.  His overall FG percentage was very favorable at 52.2%

I suspect that teams will continue to bring help defense on Tatum.  When he moves the ball in a timely fashion he is very effective but when he plays with his food it forces him to launch contested shots.  I love the kid but he is still too ISO heavy.  He has to get his looks but just maybe you get him those looks in off the ball situations.

Hats off to Luke Kornet.  His length was a big factor in out blowout win.

Sam and Payton are a big part of our ability to win.  Outside of them, we really do not have enough sustainable offense.  CJ needs to get them consistent court time that reflects their regular season usage.

With the shortened series vs the Heat, the Celtics will get more rest.  The Cavs play @ the Magic on Friday and i think they have a good chance to send this series into a decisive 7th game (Sunday)   That means that the Celtics would not play again until next Tuesday.  More recovering time for the team and Porzingis in particular.  No need to rush him back but his presence in the Eastern Conference final round would be greatly appreciated.