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Celtics vs Heat Game 1 Recap and Breakdown | Garden Report



Bobby Manning welcomes Brady Hawk from 5 Reasons Sports to recap Celtics vs Heat Game 1, how much Miami can compete without Jimmy Butler and his impressions of Boston compared to the east finals one year ago.

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hey Bob Manning here welcome to a Monday afternoon edition of the gar report our first playoff recap show with a guest here Brady Hawk who you’ve seen before who we’ve talked with before great to welcome him back to the show here five reason Sports Brady Hawk 305 on Twitter great follow for all things heat and we’re doing it again Brady third year a row these two teams meeting a bit of a blow in game one I think that’s fair way to classify it some competitive stretches in this game an interesting game for Jason Tatum who finished a uh triple double as well as just plus so when he was on the court this was a close-ish game but some of the second unit stretches and the depth difference in these teams given the injuries here clearly uh the difference in game one where the Celtics led by as many 31 scorching shooting for Boston not so much for Miami here and an interesting place to pick up the series and look ahead because on one hand I think you can look at this and say the heat are just overwhelmed here that 17-2 stretched to open some of the massive runs Boston went on and then you say on the other hand the heat given what they have here competed decently for stretches in this game so which side do you on I mean I I I kind of land on the side of like these are just two completely different offensive teams right now like you just look at the ease that Boston could flow into things uh the shooting obviously you look at the way they shot in that game but obviously the different options that they have and and look this is we we compare it to these other two Series in past years but I think the biggest difference from Miami’s perspective is that like they don’t have a guy they can help off of anymore they don’t there’s not that guy in Boston where you could say okay we could pull a little away from him and we could load up on this guy and load up and in outside they can’t really do that anymore like they they just have so much shooting on this team that they kind of have to like play uh they have to stay home on so many different guys and then you look on the other side of things uh Miami just doesn’t have many offensive options right now that that can really flow into things I think Boston uh their switch ability in their guard Defenders really can give Miami trouble with the lack of ball handlers and just natural scores that they have on the roster right now um and you just saw that I mean they they really took Tyler out of things just with the way that they kind of ran around screens and and just got him out of his rhythm so it’s like the the difference in the the toughness of shots I think was the biggest difference in this game it’s like the amount of like good looks that Boston got consistently because of the overreactions and the the the amount of times Miami has to absolutely work for every single bucket that they could possibly get whether it’s you know offensive rebounds trying to get an easy one off a tip in trying to run the floor and get an easy one in transition like those are your options at this point because the half court is just such a difference difference maker on both sides yeah let’s start with the heat defense and the Celtics offense that matchup because early in the game of course Brown goes on that run porzingis is hitting shots holiday Tatum so you end up at 172 and then the heat worked back to 2621 basically into those second units putting the ball into Horford’s hands uh he missed a few shots inside and out and then Pritchard Hower missed a couple shots there I think those three went two for eight from three in the first quarter so they were going to bet on those guys missing shots and they did for a quarter and then to start the second Hower hit three in a row and they’re Off to the Races so a little bit of hedging it looked like away from those guys you can’t Zone it up quite the way you did in the past if you’re Miami they tried it here it did not go well and then the BAM thing is going to be interesting thing to me too obviously they’ll need him more often than not straight up against porzingis and he’s a guy that would roam a little bit in the past maybe play off of Marcus Smart or Robert Williams and that guy like you mentioned isn’t here anymore so I expected the heat to get creative and mix up looks with how they’ approach Boston here and maybe disrupt them a little bit by showing them a ton of different looks but the Celtics responded to everything they saw pretty well in this game for sure I’m glad you brought the Zone because that that’s kind of of the biggest difference I mean Miami’s noted it we can all see it it’s the biggest difference this year is you just can’t go Zone against this team as often uh number one I think if if you’re Miami and you’re looking and approaching this you’re saying if we’re going to go Zone it has to be non porzingis lineups like that that’s kind of the way you have to look at it he’s a he’s a Zone breaker you can put him in the middle there he can stretch the floor as we know um but I think the issue with Miami Zone in that game as we’ve seen like you’re mentioning you know the Tatum triple double some of those Hower 3es a lot of that was coming from like them just overreacting to Tatum sending a double it’s a swing swing and it’s a Hower three or a swing swing and it’s a Pritcher three where and then he mixed in a lot of you know Skip passes some really good reads over the top and it’s like I I think it’s going to hit a certain point where if Miami is in the zone you can’t overreact to single coverages you kind of have to allow it at certain points because this isn’t the same team anymore you can’t just say okay we’re going to double this guy because they’re going to have a response so I think that that they’re going to have to have more trust in their Zone in terms of like okay whoever’s on that bottom box just live with you know Tatum taking a turnaround jumper and just play the numbers game and say if any if we’re going to bet on anything just let let’s bet over on twos over threes at this point instead of let allowing these open threes over and over and then the ban factor is big I mean look they won their last play in game they made the adjustment against Chicago where they put bam on rozan H they put nicovich on on bovich which is something they’ve done a lot in the past they like to kind of put bam on a wing and if they have somebody that could size up that that that’s just what they like to do I was not of the mind that they were going to do that too often especially in game one but in this series I I think they want bam on porzingis I think they want to try to keep that some type of length and physicality on him to try to get him out of but you know make things as tough as possible uh and the recovery speed I mean look they were had moments where they had Kevin L and nicovich on porzingis they’re you know running pick and pops and it’s you know yic or love lagging behind and has a late contested it’s a porzingis 3 you want to put bam or somebody as fast as possible to try to make those recoveries so uh that’s the biggest thing to me I mean I don’t expect Miami to match Boston’s offensive production the only the Miami’s only thing they can do is try to make games like this ugly they have to try to just muck things up and really give a crazy defensive effort and try to push things into transition so the only way to do that is now for them to make some adjustments that it’s probably going to mean as you said less Zone uh and a little more single coverages on some of their wings and just say we have to bet on bam we have to bet on Haywood heith and a lot of our better Defenders just to just play one-on-one and just see where it gets us so that’s that’s kind of what I would expect in game two yeah that was the only thing I could think of for them going into this series is switch it just switched cut them off at the three-point line try to take those threes away I mean it felt like the Celtics were going to get 63s off in this one at a certain point and you’re like wow that’s right where they want to be and of course if some of them didn’t go down maybe it’s a closer game they end up hitting 40% of the I think 49 they ended up taking uh so you’re done if you’re Miami if that’s going to happen here 45% in the end there just ridiculous so there’s nothing you can do if you’re Miami and you’re in that position giving up that kind of three-point efficiency shooting but there will be a game where that probably levels off a little bit I think for the heat offensively they gotta hit their threes too and that’s what it’s G to come down to here they hit their threes in that Chicago game they produce some quality looks throughout that game and of course no Butler in that one as well so I think what you want to see is them match the Celtic shot quality and they’re capable of doing it it’s tougher without Butler you got the hero bam pick and roll you can go to and they try to get into the mid-range they try to get to the rim it looked like and I felt like as this game went on they got a little more comfortable offensively the numbers were just abysmal early on and then they finish off uh what was it right here 47% from the field 32 from three those were much lower earlier in the game so you got yic going a little bit later dlon right hit five threes in the fourth which was ridiculous and made it close-ish after 31 l there I thought love attacking Hower early on worked pretty well and hakas it looked like early on you know I I don’t know what to say other than the lights were a little too bright but he got more comfortable as the game went on there too so you saw some guys start to wake up and do some things in this game offensively for the Heat and like you said Brady they’re not going to match what the Celtics do offensively in terms of Firepower but if you create quality shots and hit threes and I I think you probably have to try to chase the Celtics three-point um output a little bit you can at least give yourself a chance to stay close and then you know in a close game the Celtics have slipped up a few times here it’s just so tough even if you get to that position you want Butler in that circumstance to close it out and it doesn’t feel like you have a closer here even if you get to a crunch times this is why I think a lot of people look at the series and say this might be a sweep no I I I’ve been kind of talking about that in terms of like if it is a close game in one of these games and it comes down to it that is the worry if you’re Miami is the closing time and not only Jimmy but Terry Rosier has been their closer in a lot of games in this this regular season where he’s kind of the guy that can create that loss is so tough too it’s tough it’s tough because he there’s two guys that can create looks uh out of nothing and now you’re kind of forced with a lot of your role players and other guys that are uh more you know some players that work off of those guys and then now you kind of bump everybody up a slot in in terms of First Option second option third option um I think kind of the adjustments for Miami offensively would be like Tyler you mentioned the Tyler being pick and role it’s always been kind of one of their their Main Stays but I think Boston’s so prepared for it I mean it’s the number one thing on the on The Scouting Report everybody knows it’s coming they know what they’re going to coverage they’re going to throw at it so I think the adjustment for Miami is more Tyler off ball they’re going to try to work different actions off the ball for him try to get him more you know spot UPS say we need your shooting more than anything right now so we’re going to try to work you in that area uh and you mentioned haime hawz I think that’s kind of the guy they’re going to have to put the ball in his hands a ton as we’ve seen this last game because I mean Tyler has to find you know advantages against the drop he has to find space in that area and the way Boston kind of cut it off and switch it off kind of hurts him in that way whereas Hae can find different advantages on switches or something with his back to the basket like if you’re Miami you’re saying we can go to that at least and try to see if we can get a better look um out of those actions so then comes back to Bam who has to you know be aggressive as he was in game one I thought he was you know put his head down a few times and look you know Boston didn’t get to the line a ton in that game one obviously Miami if you look at this roster right now they are not going to get to the line in the series like they don’t have guys that are getting to the free throw line consistently it’s bam and that’s it that that’s the only guy that you could possibly see getting to the line maybe more than four or five times in a game this series so they have to like you said they have to shoot the ball at a higher level and I think the big thing other than us just saying oh they have to make shots they have to take their first shot because I think Boston did a really good job of that in game one where like they Miami was like overthinking their initial looks where like they probably could have had like a first shot and how many shot clock violations did they have in that game they’re like dribbling into nothing into an extra kickout like I think that that’s going to be the thing thing main thing that that Miami’s coaching staff is kind of hammering is like if you have an open look at any point in the shot clock at any point of your half court offense you have to take it you cannot play into to Boston’s defensive strengths and and kind of extend possessions because that’s what they want you to do because then they could rotate around and use their length and switch and everything along those lines so Miami’s gonna have to just get shots up kind of like they did in that fourth quarter run I mean I’m not saying you’re going to get the lawn right five for five from three at any other point in the series but you have to have opportunities there where you just take shots you cannot put your back against the shot clock you can’t have turnover problems like if mam has any chance to like win games in this series it has you have to low Boston now in the turnover battle like you have to absolutely turn them over you have to get out on the break and if you’re losing that battle you are putting yourself in a very hard position so I think the the last thing I’ll say is Miami is a bad transition team they’ve been all season they’re not very good in the fast break but when you look at this roster right now and you look at their starting lineup and you look at all the young guys across the board I think Miami is approaching this right now saying we have to just play Fast against this team we’re not going to get to the line we have a bunch of young guys that want to run we just have to play Fast play into the fast break and see where it gets us and see if we can create runs out of that and and ideally you do it off of turnover so I think that that that’s kind of where Miami’s head’s at offensively because like I said there’s not a lot of open advantages against this team yeah and you mentioned all those margins that rebounding category in particular when you talk about just getting that first shot up and seeing what you can produce there that’s one area I expected them to perform better in they finished with five offensive rebounds which isn’t close to enough especially when the Celtics on the other end are emphasizing that and they pick up 10 they’re just launching the shot total was only 8281 in the end in favor of Boston uh but that three-point Advantage 49 to 37 you gotta find ways to bridge that Gap because it’s not going to be free throws like you talked about at least in game one it wasn’t 16 to six uh the offensive rebounding battle goes to Boston the turnover battle relatively even and I thought Boston played a little sloppy at times in this game and they still end up playing even in the turnovers with the heat committing nine I think again a lot of those shot clock and some other just over dribbling and bad ball management and uh just getting into the offense too slowly there they got to get the shots up I think you’re exactly right about that because that’s how the Hawks have done it at times it’s just bombs away I think even the Bulls if they made into the series would have done the similar thing in just terms of letting their guys fire away and try to keep up with that three-point battle and listen you got to find something here it’s it’s not the best strategy to just fire away and take that first look not try to get deeper into it and find a really good look I know the heat want to do that a lot of times but you’re just up against a math battle here obviously you’re up against a Personnel battle too but you got to find a way to even this out sometimes and honestly if you want to push the series to six games and give yourself a game six in Miami and try to get lucky there you got to try to get hot from three in a game or two and give yourself some life here and they didn’t give themselves that chance in game one yeah and I think I mean it comes down to rotations a little bit too I mean I think from Miami’s perspective a lot of us were kind of talk about that Kevin Love needs to play more for Miami I mean he gives them a base offense at least to to get a good look off like they made their run in that first quarter when Kevin Love Came in he played five minutes in the first half and to your free throw point he had 10 free throw attempts in the Chicago game made no sense I still don’t understand that happened but uh yeah he he he gives them a spacing Factor he kind of pulls different guys away from the rim uh and he can get them into their actions he can get into the handoff stuff he can get into his pick and pop stuff like he at least gives them a different Dynamic offensively and like you said they they have to get threes up they have to kind of get those shots up and the other guy is Duncan I mean I he’s not very healthy it feels right now like he he batt back yeah nobody’s healthy but he’s playing through it and you know he was questionable in that last game of the regular season for Miami nobody really understood how because we knew he wasn’t going to play he did not play he did not play in the Philly game even though he was available he played in the Chicago game he still looks like that back’s bothering him so it’s it’s hard to just say okay you need that guy just to put up a bunch of threes and get hot because it’s it’s a hard expectation you’re not expecting that at this stage that’s why as I said before you’re going to probably lean on Tyler in off ball sets a little bit more just try and see if you can get him hot hide in those Corners try to see if you can move the ball in that way but it all starts you’re not just going to to get open spot up looks you have to generate paint touches you have to generate Rim attempts and there’s only a couple guys in the teb are really doing that right now and it’s haime hakz and it’s babio like th those are the two guys that are going to have the ball in their hands a ton you know possession after possession and try to get things going north and south so the offense thing is the tough part that that Miami is going to probably be sitting here right now making all their defensive adjustments because offensively there’s there’s only so much they could do with what they have right now like there’s so much they can lean into so they just got to play faster and just lean on the defense I guess yeah at the same time you got to keep up with Boston especially if Boston has some cold stretches you got to be able to take advantage offensively and there were some moments in this game where the Celtics left the door open and the heat just went ice cold for periods of time even against some second units that Boston had out there and theoretically I think the Celtics have done a pretty good job holding up when teams try to go against Hower it slipped a little bit in this game and there was a stretch there where you’re wondering like is he going to be able to stay on the court here after missing a couple shots after giving up a couple looks to uh I think hakz and maybe love inside too they kept those guys on the floor those guys survived they got hot and when the bench goes in Boston’s Direction too beyond all the other stuff we’re talking about here you’re really at a loss if you’re Miami here and you know looking at some of the guys coming off their bench you mentioned love right I didn’t know what to expect from him coming into the series and he was really quiet early and he just caught fire I don’t know if that’s going to happen again and then Robinson which you know maybe he gets healthier as the series goes on they got two days off here and then they have two days off before game three as well so maybe that helps himh to some degree but he didn’t really become a factor there either High Smith too I I looked in going into the series I I think he shot 38% from three this year I was surprised because I feel like every time the Celtics played them he just can’t make anything which they need him to be able to do because the Celtics going to HED away from guys too as you mentioned at Miami likes to do the Celtics have done it all year they’ve done it going back to those 2022 2023 teams with Robert Williams so they’re gonna hedge away from guys like that and dare them to shoot too and they gotta be able to knock it down and you know he goes 0 for four in this game so the bench a big difference early in this series as well which I was interested in because this really was the first full playoff role pton pitri has played in uh Sunday was effectively Sam Howser’s first full playoff game playing a full rotation throughout a game he really didn’t play last year at all in that postseason run and then you know you have Horford being Horford out there for stretches of this game too he had a double figure scoring game so the bench goes Boston’s way too it’s it’s over and I think the other player from Miami I know he’s not Off the Bench but he’s he’s kind of their swing player and somebody you’re probably very familiar with is Caleb Martin I mean I mean he’s heame brutal game I mean he he struggled at certain points this season but I think that if you look at Miami roster like they have they have Shooters you can you can call this guy a shooter you can call this guy their Defender you can call this guy kind of different roles they’re in at this point like Caleb’s your swing player he’s the guy that can give you randomly something different he could randomly be an on ball kind of tough shot maker he could kind of randomly be a guy that could drive and get things at the rim and generate paint touches or he could L be a guy that’s hitting a bunch of spot up looks or he could play like he did in game one so like he’s your swing player right now it feels like so like you kind of know what you’re getting from a lot of these guys they’re going to lean defense with the with the haywoods and delans of the world as you mentioned that that’s kind of a main stay for uh the Zone they’re just could put those two guys up on the top of that zone and just let them work but there has to be somebody that gets hot and not like Delon hot in the fourth quarter where he hits 53 ABD it it you just have to have a little bit more consistency with your off and say it’s like okay Boston you you have to make Boston say okay here’s a guy we can’t help off of right now so now Miami finds a little bit of an advantage and say okay we could work off this and we can get to these actions but it felt like from the very beginning Miami never had that guy like they never had somebody that they could work off of at any point it just felt like they were just trying things and in a lot of ways you kind of have to with the position they’re in they they’re in a unique spot right now with the guys that they’re that they’re without they have to try things at the beginning of a series and and you know SM is always a guy that likes to make adjustments from there uh um but like I keep saying that the offensive adjustments are limited it just comes down to them maybe switching up lineups maybe switching up minutes uh I think Kevin Love and Bam playing together more is probably going to be something that they’re going to lean on more and more as the series goes on that’s just what what’s inevitably gonna happen um like you we’re g to keep saying it over and over but it is it’s the it’s the shooting because Boston’s not GNA stop shooting threes it’s not that they’re they’re going to shoot at the level that they did in game one maybe they will but they’re going to get them up and you really can’t compete with that if you’re just playing this long game of you know inconsistent offense in drives and different things like that you have to get threes up so we’ll see who they lean on I mean they need Tyler they need Tyler they need him consistently to get certain shots on pullups absolutely especially against the style of defense that the Celtics are going to play there and then you got those guards that can go at them it’s tough against holiday and white and those type of guys white blocked him bad at one point at The Rim there which he’s done all year so it’s tough because Boston defends too they got that great offense but their defense finished top five as well so they do it on both ends is just a daunting matchup beyond all the injuries and stuff so to go into this game and yes you go down 172 early you go down 30 at one point I did commend the heat for keeping it slightly close Midway through the first half and then even into the fourth to give themselves a chance if the Celtics kept the cold spell going and it was there was five minutes left and it was down to 14 so they stayed in the game as well as they could and I’m grading on a scale here because of Celtics unbelievable Personnel here and what the heat are missing and it’s too bad because if Butler’s in this series if even Josh Richardson’s in this series who I think would be a great fit for what they need here against this team and then roer who is supposed to be the big deadline boost maybe this series doesn’t happen because the heat are higher in the standing so they win that first playing game so you we certainly might not be sitting here even talking about this series if those guys are available but it’s brutal to watch a team coming into the series that you know he’s capable of competing but just is missing so much here because even from the Celtics perspective you’re glad you get a free pass per se if that’s what they end up getting here but you want to be tested too to some degree because you know you might play a tough Cavs team round two or you know who knows who’s going to be there in the East finals and if you the way it’s looking right now Brady if there’s no tests in the east at all you’re going to get into the NBA Finals if you’re the Celtics and play probably the most battle tested team you can imagine given what the West looks like so you’ll take the breaks every team gets them on the way to a championship but this is tough I I hope the heat find a way to at least make this slightly entertaining here I think Miami trusts Eric spola enough I think that’s the guy that they’re ultimately going to lean on in this matchup and they’ll say he could kind of make this competitive make his adjust to do things from there um but look I think you you saw the way Miami battled back and I think as much as we know the advantages that Boston has Miami is going to make this a dog fight they’re they’re going to make this uh some ugly gritty games it feels like down the stretch I and but like we keep saying once it gets to that point can they close it out like do they have that guy and you know Terry rir is not changing everything here but Terry rir can actually do things and get you into a different offense down the stretch a close game he can get you a shot off whereas it’s just a different mindset right now for Miami when you look at their roster that it’s you have to work for every bucket at least you you had a tough shot maker it could make things easier in that way but um yeah it really comes down to that and just making things as ugly as possible as crazy as it sounds want get take a quick minute here to give a shout to our sponsor uh priz picks prize picks.com clns give them a shout here we quick it’s playoff time so you got all these great matchups you got all these great players on display always love going in the just seeing what they think these guys are going to do any given night uh last game went more on porzingis he fell just short of that on his point total but Derek white my guy Joe sway went more on him he had a big game after a slow start so it’s fun close calls uh there and you know any given night you just pick two guys as many as six build your daily fantasy sports team and uh just predict whether they’re going to go more or less than their stat projections that’s all there is to it it’s simple it’s fun go to prize.com CNS and they’ll give you 100% deposit match up to $100 that’s prix.com CNS uh you mentioned Martin a couple uh minutes ago Brady what do you make of the uh controversy over the foul there at the end oh man I mean I think I think Drew holiday pushed him and it led into a momentum play like I I know it’s this is a rivalry there’s going to be sides and everybody’s going to take one and and one side’s going to be right one side’s going to be dirty but Caleb Mar is not a dirty player he’s he’s just not that type of player he’s not he’s always been that type of guy um and there was I know things are very uh controversial on social media and everything talking about it but I mean Drew got him with a little uh momentum push there and he went into the body of Tatum but this idea um that that that SPO is is setting things up to to you know hurt opposing team’s players is I don’t even know what to say about that like that is the farthest from the truth but um yeah I think it was just kind of just an un you know an unnecessary um play that led to to Tatum falling but I mean the fact that he got right up the fact that he was able to kind of bounce up from that because I think everybody watching that was thinking he would might have hit his head on the floor even he might have even had contact there but he got right up he seemed like he was fine and it seemed like there was no even you know mention of anything of it of a somewhat injury so I mean that that was a positive I guess for boss’s perspective but I mean my take on it is there I didn’t think it was a dirty play Sorry apologies everybody you got me Brady yes sir I hear you yeah I just had to switch my audio there I I was the culprit sorry to the chat there of the buzzing noise beat the allegations yeah so that was me I think we solved it there um so let’s continue the conversation yeah I’m going to throw that to the side too I don’t know what happened I looked at the replay it did look like there was a little shove maybe there was a little something extra there I just I I talked to Caleb after and it didn’t seem like he even thought about that being like a little extra dirty thing there that he would have done like he wasn’t very defensive he was pretty matter of fact um he talked about the momentum kind of throwing him in there and then he tried to help him up like if if there was anything extra he was trying to show there I don’t think he goes and helps him up so he saw that too the Scout thing silly the timeout the timeout was a coach’s challenge right and there was 90 seconds left and I guess the one thing you could say is why the Celtics Stars still in the game at that point in a 20-point game with one minute left so I don’t know that might be my takeaway if anything there so I don’t know know I it’ll be interesting though because there has been some moments this year you know Duncan and Jaylen got into it and that Super Bowl Sunday game and yep you know they got wrapped up and Duncan wasn’t happy with Jaylen and he got in his face so that’s the kind of stuff that’s gonna happen in this series and you know SPO said in the opening press conference there you can’t be fearful uh going up against this kind of team here so how do you try to bridge the gap between these two rosters here you know probably be a little extra physical getting guys faces try to get under their skin I know bam leveled Derek white with a hard screen there couple minutes before so this stuff’s going to happen and Tatum even said that he expects there to be some hard hits fouls and he just jumped right up and went and shot the free throw so uh he expects it and that’s how the Celtics are gonna have to approach this too if anything does come up like this here at all in this series but it’ll be interesting to see if anything comes out of it just how the Celtics feel about it they kind of shrugged it off Caleb gave his s there and we’ll see what happens it’s a playoff series stuff’s going to come up 100% I mean it’s playoff basketball I mean nobody expect to be uh not physical especially when we’re talking about these two teams I mean the history that they have uh the fact that they’ve had these moments in the past the regular season or not like they this is Miami Heat Boston Celtics basketball this was not uh Miami’s not going to roll over either as much as the expectation is that that this is a one-sided Affair like Eric spos is going to come in and and have this team ready to at least compete uh and have the mentality that they’re they can win this series whether everybody thinks they’re crazy or not that’s just the mindset that they’re always going to have so um there this is going to be physical both ways it has to be and maybe it needs to be after we just watch both teams just Chuck up Threes And as we talk about game plays they’re both just going to sit on the outside and shoot maybe it needs to be a little more physical and play that type of game so um we talked about Boston’s defense and how much they they’ve improved the different things they could do as I said before my is going to lean into their defense even more so as much as as this series goes on and it leans more and more into defense for both teams physicality is going to happen it’s gonna get to that point and it’s it’s a rivalry as you said yeah what impresses you about Boston’s defense because I don’t feel like that side of the ball gets talked about enough for them they were uneven last year on that side they of course gave up 43% three-point shooting to the heat in that East finals last year lapses left and right I thought they over hedged in that series away from Martin again and again and just gave up uh wide open threes to guys like that on the Miami side and I feel like their defensive inconsistency last year even though they ranked well was a big reason that their game their team was so erratic especially into the playoffs they finished 10th I want to say out of 16 uh playoff teams last year in defensive rating before they fell in Miami and seven there so this unit looks much better uh porzingis blocked a couple shots in this game Tatum had a couple really nice steals uh just fronting guys he knocked hakz to the ground at one point and just the ball bounced off him and out of bounds so some good turnovers Force that’s not something the Celtics have done well all year is forc turnovers but positionally they defend pretty well out there and porzingis has been a part of that of course you had Drew holiday to the dynamic who was you know recovering loose balls across the back line and just trying to throw them off Heat players and get the ball back there so this is a strong defensive performance for the Celtics alongside their 45% three-point shoot in the big offense output I mean you mentioned them helping off Caleb in the past night leaning to it but I mean the reason they don’t have to help off those guys anymore is because they have such strong point of attack Defenders I mean you’d help off because you know your guard Defender loses the ball handler and all of a sudden a two-on one you pull over they’re not forcing B’s not forcing many two-on ones right now it just seems like they’re just getting to certain spots and and just containing really well like I said they the the book is kind of out that the the physicality defensively with Tyler is is what you need to do as a defense I mean they were Boston was extremely physical with him and was able to kind of get him out of those those comfortable pull-ups and things like that um and I mean the other thing I thought bosta did well defensively was just they didn’t send much doubles at BAM I mean they they pretty much said you know I know I know they talked about after the game kind of living with certain shots and everything but I mean they’re pretty much saying we’re GNA let bam take certain shots and let him work and if he puts up a bunch of points he does but we’re not pulling off of the outside and it gets back to what we were saying and saying Miami needs to get these shots up from outside Boston’s kind of saying well we’re not going to allow you to get a bunch of shots up outside we’re going to make you play the mid-range game we’re gonna make you if bam drops 35 he drops 35 but we’re not going to pull off of you and I mean it’s kind of a it’s a good game plan for what they what Miami has right now with the with the guys that they have available so uh and look Boston has a bunch of switchability they have they have a bunch of guys that they um they could kind of switch off of many of the actions that Miami runs because Miami runs a lot of these guard guard they kind of guard screens or or guard guard actions um they could just switch all over the place and and kind of let porzingis kind of alter some shots around the rim and do things like that and Miami kind of used it as well we’re gonna wait for for Pritchard or Hower or somebody like that come in and let haime um mismatch hunt like that’s our best advantage and that’s why you saw haime get an advantage I mean he had 16 points I don’t think he had a three or a free throw like it was all stuff inside the arc and just kind of working from there it’s what Miami did with Jimmy in the past that that was kind of Miami’s offense a lot of those games against Boston in the past that they’re going to kind of let him operate with his back to the basket and and see if you could force an overaction there maybe Boston starts to stunt a little bit then maybe you start working your kicks and your swings and maybe you get more threes so uh but to answer your question I mean Boston definitely gives you trouble you know not healthy or healthy like they they just have a good you know point of attack system that that they work around one more can bam do I know there’s so much on his shoulders already and I thought he had a pretty good game uh hitting shots even hit a corner three at one point um is there anything else he can do beyond what he’s already doing here I mean he can’t let up I mean he has to attack he has to take those shots as I talked about the single coverage he can’t over he has to be so aggressive he has to be I mean he he’s the one guy that can force as I just mentioned the word overreaction he’s the one guy that can potentially Force an overreaction for Boston that that maybe they start to stunt a little bit more toward the middle of the floor and try to just turn him over in a way that maybe you can set up Miami could set up some sprays for threes it’s like nobody else in this team is really going to force that no no team nobody is really going to force a major adjustment from Boston um to change up their game plan so bam has to do that and like I said before I said it earlier look at this roster right now there’s not guys on this team that are going to average more than four free throw attempts a game in the series they they don’t have that guy right now on the roster like Jimmy owns that for Miami he’s the guy that puts them in position in the free throw line um so it’s baned or nobody it’s like bammer bust when it talk when you talk about putting your head down and getting calls he has the ability to kind of use that pump fake and you know get into that bump get into that foul on the jumper he could put his head down do stuff around the rim maybe get to the line but that’s the important thing like if he can if you could somewhat control the game in the paint with bam and and just try to control Pace at some degree because I mean I think we could both agree I don’t think Miami’s gonna control pace for a good portion of the series just Boston just has the momentum they have the Firepower they have the shooting uh so alth in the fourth quarter and I know it’s 31 at that point yeah Boston does slow down a little bit there and that’s when the heat rack up some possessions and get some shots off and stuff like that so you really the only area where the heat can catch some off guard is that fourth quarter late game close game but you have to get there first and then as we’ve talked about what can the heat pull out in those situations because the Celtics have struggled in spots there but it’s not like they’re abysmal in those situations like they still have some stuff they can get to I’m sure they’ve made some adjustments off their regular season struggles in those spots so I don’t think it would surprise anybody if there was a close game in this series if the Celtics pull it out especially when there is no Butler no roer on the other side and man yeah roer you at least would have liked to have seen him here and it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna play at this point at least the way they’re talking about it you don’t get the feeling I mean they they’re making it you know to daytoday week to week kind of thing that maybe if Miami extends the series a game or two you can maybe get to that point but it does not seem likely it does not seem likely whatsoever that they’re going to rush him back um and he does it does make a difference for their late game offense as we keep talking about that’s why I keep saying like if if you were to tell Heat fans that like the heat should play faster they would call you crazy because if you’ve seen this team play in in transition it’s just not it’s not pretty basal but it does seem like what you look at right now like late in the game your best bet is to like okay lock in defensively Play Play that type of range maybe you could turn Boston over and just try to find any advantage you can because look as we’re crediting Boston’s defense as soon as you slow it down in the clutch and force it into a half court possession you’re handicapping yourself like you’re putting yourself in a much worse position um to try and get a good look so that’s the tough part it’s like we’re talking about Miami trying to force their way out and get a win there’s certain there’s like benchmarks here like you have to get to that point you have to make it competitive game you have to shoot well and then when you get to a tie game with three minutes left you have to be on point because as soon as you make if you make a mistake in that position Boston can can really capitalize and that’s the part that’s going to hurt so unless you get like a like an on fire Tyler Hero game where he’s just kind of unconscious and is really in a good flow um and that’s why I think the starter games for him are important like if he can get going at a start of a game mentally for him like that’ll help for his late game offense but like what Boston did in game one for example it’s hard for him to get a flow throughout the game and try to find his range when they already kind of took him out of things um and then it just comes down to Bam tough shot making down the stretch it’s gonna be interesting I I think SPO will try everything over the course of four games here and maybe the best BET’s five it probably is I’m in my PTSD State giving six I just give the benefit of the doubt to them to find a way figure something out have a couple hot shooting nights just extend the series longer than we think it’s going to be here and maybe that’s just me trying to be safe here with how I pick it a lot of people are looking at this right now and saying sweep which I understand um I want to hit you with one more Celtics question and look at their big picture here if they are going to just Breeze through this series uh but first I want to shout out our other sponsor here pxg pxg great Golf Apparel for the spring right now the summer if you’re in Miami it’s all year you’ll be wanting this stuff it’s great uh Leisure wear as well awesome Styles I can pull up some pictures here for the people too I believe think I got it in here somewhere but uh it’s just awesome polos hats all the different things you need for the course you gotta look good to play good and they’re going to help you with that and you’ll get 10% off all their power right now at pxg.com Garden head over there now pxg.com Garden check out what they got it’s almost that t time of year up here Brady it’s still a little cold uh so I’m really looking forward to getting down to Miami this weekend and trying out a course down there maybe in my pxg so check it out pxg.com Garden save 10% off all apparel and I really am I was hoping for this one Brady in part because I think it’s always more interesting when these teams play like Chicago would have been so boring at least here you have the hope that the heat can figure something out and you know tap into some of the old um difficulties they’ve given Boston here but it’s a new Boston team you look at it it’s completely different than a year ago I know that’s been their motto All year but when you see Jason Tatum come out in a playoff game and have 10 assists uh which was Unthinkable a couple years ago and he made it look easy he made all the reads he looked against different defenses and found where the ball needed to go and he didn’t shoot great he didn’t let that impact him he still defended and I know he was a plus three in this game which was weird to me I know the plus minus is always funky he probably played into some second units or something that didn’t Fair well uh but he was excellent in this game a lot of praise for him after this one porzingis said it was a beautiful game you talked about some of the reads and pass pass sets he he set up so this is a guy you could take advantage of if you’re in Miami as a playmaker Blitz forc into some mistakes I think the biggest thing is that him and uh Jaylen would attack this defense head on in the past try to it by scoring the ball but you saw both of them at different points in this game become passers and impact the game in that way and he was incredibly effective yeah I think if you if we were to make bets for what’s to come now as the adjustment or what we’re going to see in game two I would expect a big scoring game for Tatum just because I think that’s Miami’s going to make that adjustment they’re they’re going to pull away those skip passes they’re going to pull away those swings um and it sounds crazy but they’re going to allow more sing sing Le coverage against Tatum like they they when they’re in that zone because as much as we say you know even heat people talked about them pulling away from the zone you can’t play zone against this team so they’re going to go away from it it’s become their base like one of their base defenses they’re not just going to go away from it fully they’re still going to lean on it but there’s certain principles within the zone that they could stay away from which is one of the things is that the top guy helping down on Tatum or or whoever’s in that mid post area uh I think they’re going to allow more single coverage and the issue was I mean Tatum did a really a good job and boss did a good job of finding the box where they found the advantage like they were hunting Duncan’s side of the Zone like they were trying to get Duncan on Tatum’s back and force that double um but I mean the way the zone is set up you have backline defense you have things behind you that you don’t really need to overreact from the top it felt like and I think that’s where Miami is goingon to feel this out so 100% as I said before Tatum great game one I thought with the passing with the skip passes to the weak side corner I thought that set everything up I thought he made incredible reads with the way Miami’s defense reacted to him but I think we’re at the point now where moving on in the series you you’re probably going to see a lot more Tatum drives Tatum mid-range jumpers they’re going to allow it they I I don’t think they’re just gonna allow Boston to get a bunch of open threes constantly off off swings and everything so we’ll see the adjustments they make I mean it’ll be interesting to see how they tra treat Tatum and brown because they still have so much respect for those guys as scores um and you don’t want to just allow those guys to fully get going but I think you at this point you have to you have to pick something with this team right I mean we’re we’re talking about the fact they don’t you can’t pull off of a player anymore like they have a lot of good Shooters but like you can’t just limit everything you have to pick something um and you have to play the numbers game at some point so I think that’s what they’re going to do they’re going to pick something and I think you’re going to see a little more just a little more single coverage with guys like brown and Tatum it’s risky because he can score 4050 against that single coverage but you got to try everything at this point and they’re going to I’m looking forward to seeing it game two is Wednesday night so there will be another practice here I’d assume on Tuesday for these teams and then into it with a nice early start 7 o’clock Wednesday which I like as well appreciate Brady Hawk being here plenty of time to talk about both these teams big pictures if this series goes the way it looks like it might here and so maybe we’ll Circle back on that later in the series but for now Celtics dominate game one heat show some spurts of competitiveness we’ll see if that translates into an actual win or two in this series and then we’ll keep an eye on the heal too it does seem like Butler’s going to miss this whole series now at this point right at least according to the reporting H just a bummer this could have been an interesting one a fun one one that really means something for the Celtics here but Miami just demoralized right now appreciate Brady coming to break it all down you can find him on Twitter at Brady Hawk 305 and his work at five reasons Sports looking forward to seeing you down there in Miami you know couple days Brady yes sir thank you for having me

8 Comments

  1. This should be the clsn postgame show and I’m not kidding.. Jimmy can’t talk about basketball beyond surface level banter and John is a pie and patriots guy.

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