1. Win one to play another one.
This is the focus of the Boston Celtics.
We’ve said it before: Boston can’t win four straight games in one night. They have to do it game by game. In Games 4 and 5, the Celtics stayed focused and tackled Miami Heat with relative ease.
This was a real team effort. Four different Celtics players have had 21 or more points. Horford got on the board to make 11 rebounds. Rob Williams and Grant Williams contributed good minutes off the bench. The team’s defense had 13 steals, led by Marcus Smart with five.
It wasn’t a perfect game, though, because Miami still shot really well. But after the midpoint of the first quarter, the Heat wasn’t in for the game. Boston never fell behind and took the lead forever with 8:43 to play in the opening period.
Here’s how the Celtics kept the season alive.
2. Every now and then, there’s a play early in the game that sets the tone for everything to come. In Game 5, Marcus Smart set that tone by standing his ground on first possession:
That play told TD Garden that the Celtics were ready and weren’t messing around.
3. That missed drill may have pushed Jason Tatum, but he was on the attack from the jump. When Tatum gets down early, that’s generally a good sign for him.
The Heat is offline here. Kevin Love is only half a fence, while Kyle Lowry screens past Al Horford. Here’s everything runway Tatum needed to get to the edge (and he should have been and 1 too!):
The spacing between Boston here is great. Also, what in the world is Cody Zeller doing? The guess is he thinks Tatum will flip the screen off Rob Williams, but Tatum explodes over the edge unchallenged:
4. Jason Tatum played Boston’s starting playmaker in Game Five. He had 11 assists and some of them were sweet stuff.
This is one of the best passes Tatum has ever made. He positions the defense so perfectly, and goes wide and deep in the paint that he pulls down the entire Miami defense. From there, it’s a great Marcus Smart pass into the corner:
Late in the first half, Tatum again did a good job of pulling the defense in on him. This time I opened for Derek White for a trilogy:
Smart got really adept at sliding screens when he was working on a two-on-one game with Tatum. The dime forward falls on the guard in the middle of the lane:
As time ticked into the third quarter, Tatum could have taken two different shots here. Instead, he stayed patient and tapped Rob Williams for ease at the edge:
5. There was a three-minute stretch to open the second quarter as Jaylen Brown took over. This was Brown’s old choppy dribble to set up the three step back:
After several passes, Brown drove the defender and took the hit on the edge before going down on a layup:
Boston had a second chance advantage in this match. Not only creating it, but also recording it. This triple draw from Brown followed an offensive rebound by Marcus Smart:
6. Derrick White was on fire to start the game. In the first quarter, White hit 4 of 5 shots, including a 3-for-3 from behind the arc.
When White threw in this late-clock festival, there was a feeling something was brewing:
This is just simple and smart basketball. As Brown moves to his series of posts, White has moved to the break. This made the corner pass easier for Brown to drop for him with the sweet catch:
When Boston’s offense is buzzing, they use flashy, clip-on screens for youthful shots on a regular basis. This was a great light display by Jayson Tatum and an on-time rendition from Rob Williams to White:
One of Joe Mazzulla’s modifications was to give Tatum and Brown firing ports when doubled. This is behind the clock. Miami doesn’t want Tatum to take that shot. It accepts doubles and white is present as version. Because White feels so, this one-time pull-up exercise beats the buzzer:
7. We showed you Marcus Smart setting the tone from the very first play. Smart’s play has not waned from that point on. He was locked in for the remaining 30 minutes, as well.
The shot clock is ticking here, but smart stay tuned. Max Strus catches leaning close and gets into the paint for a layup:
Smart has been a huge part of keeping Boston apart. This play opens with Derek White dueling Jimmy Butler for the edge. It ends with a clever run to the corner in transition, getting an extra pass from Al Horford:
With the Heat in as much space as possible, Boston must be ready to take shots with confidence. Here’s a good, quick pass from Jaylen Brown and Smart lets her rip without hesitation:
After one of his five steals, Smart reached for his spot on the wing and was rewarded by Jason Tatum:
8. HORFORD HAD A NEAR PERFECT MATCH WITH HORFORD. He made things difficult for Bam Adebayo, controlling the glass and making a bunch of those extra plays.
There is no better Celtic passer than Horford. Look at that spacing here, too. When Jason Tatum gets doubled, Horford rises to the perfect director’s spot. Bam Adebayo has to get very close to him, so Horford swipes the pass to Brown for the hat-trick:
The next play we highlight was also simple, but it was also very noisy:
Posting Kyle Lowry is a lot like posting Marcus Smart: You have a better chance of taking out a fire hydrant. But Horford goes to work here:
Here is another simple but good example for making quick and effective decisions:
9. ROB WILLIAMS MADE THREE OF THESE ROB! He plays. People you think again is the difference in Boston winning the title or not.
Jimmy Butler-Williams has pretty much destroyed Keys in this series. Not this time:
When your big guy wins the extra shot, you reward him with:
This wasn’t Boston’s last basket play, but it was the caper machine of the night. And he sums up all the potential Rob Williams must have to be a very special player:
Fake in one dribble drive shot? Let’s go!
10. Win one to play another one.
Click on the Miami Heat now.
Yes, it would still be a disappointing season finale for the Boston Celtics if they lost this series, even with all the comebacks they’ve been making. But Boston was expected to lose after falling 0-3. They are playing with house money now.
Miami looks battered and worn out. They have been fighting since the Play-In Championship. Perhaps the steam ran out from the heat. They have to shut it down in Game 6, or things could totally blow up.
It’s important for the Celtics to stay locked in. Needless to say, it’s one match at a time. In that match, it’s one possession after another. Put enough good stuff together again, and we’ll all be watching Game 7 in Boston on Monday night.