The easiest way to explain Boston’s 127-102 win over Miami in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals is that it was the exact opposite of why they lost Game 1. Without Marcus Smart and Al Horford in the first game of the series, Boston’s formidable defense looked helpless. In the rematch, with those two reliable veterans back in the starting lineup, pretty much every problem that arose on that side of the ball when they weren’t available anymore.
The Celtics should not be reminding anyone how dominant their defense — which was statistically about as good during the playoffs as it was when they finished first in the regular season — really is. In Game 2, with Smart and Horford back in the fold, those who forgot got a great chance to refresh their memories. The Heat were strangled in the half-court, racking up just 86.5 points per 100 possessions against the league’s most complete, personal space-invading, switch-heavy defense.
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Boston forced and then fought long deuces launched in desperation against a waning shot clock. They chased three-point shooters off the line, leaving non-threatening options wide open. They successfully mixed in the occasional blitz and flattened out an attack that spilled over into Game 1 at will. After that on-court encounter, Boston kept Miami out of transition, allowing only eight fast-break points. It forced 14 overslides and limited the Heat to a meager seven free throw attempts in the first half, four of which failed. (Boston’s biggest lead was 34 points, so a few of these stats were collected after the game was functionally decided.)
To get there, the Celtics made a few tactical adjustments that were mostly the byproduct of putting two of the league’s best defenders back into their starting lineups. Shifting was stepped up. But just as importantly, the Boston defenders made moves in Game 2 that felt like a direct response to their hiccups in Game 1. The core of them was how they guarded Jimmy Butler, who played well but couldn’t replicate the out-of-body experience he had. on Tuesday evening.
Butler took 18 free throws in Game 1. On Thursday night, he had eight. Check out Grant Williams’ arms after he recovers to slow down this ride of Butler, who shuns Bam Adebayo’s screen and seemingly has a clear lane to the brink. Keep your hands high and visible and it will be a lot harder for the referee to spot illegal contact.
From there, the Heat had no offensive responses. “We know what they are capable of defensively,” said Erik Spoesltra. “They’ve done this on some very good fouls. I’m sure they weren’t happy that we had 118 in Game 1. They came out and were very disruptive and took us out of our normal rhythm and flow, and then the shooting was on the other side, you know, very hard to overcome.”
Until then, this column could also have been about Boston’s attempt behind the three-point line. They took 40 threes and made 20 of them. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s independent shot creation in and out of the arc was a nightmare. They hit heavy pull-ups and sprayed the ball to wide-open teammates. Smart finished with 12 assists and one turnover† Grant hit a couple of threes late in the first quarter, keeping the floor clear and creating lanes for the ball-handlers. All those baskets in the beginning got the Celtics ready, finding matchups and then keeping it all to themselves with decisive switches. Horford was key here, be it against Butler, Gabe Vincent or Tyler Herro.
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“I mean, Al is… what is he, 35, 36? And he still moves like he’s 22,” Smart said. “He’s an athletic, tall guy who can get out and switch to those smaller, faster guards, and it keeps our defense really tight. And it’s not really a mismatch that teams can really go after.
Ime Udoka agreed: “We saw Herro go downhill a bit too much, Butler also last game and wanted to have bodies for bodies, and what we showed them at half time was good physicality, good pick up points and good attention to detail on certain guys, aggressive reads, aggressive switches, and they saw a body pretty much every time they came off and didn’t get many clean shots, so we’re happy with what we did tonight.
Nothing about Boston’s performance in Game 2 was a revelation. Nights like this are inevitable when a composed, complementary, and closed defense takes the floor with top scorers and shooters positioned to reap all the benefits that are then offered on the other side.
It’s only one game in a series that can still bounce back and forth by small margins, but this outcome wasn’t particularly surprising; when the most appropriate way to rationalize an overwhelming defeat to the top of the conference – in their building, where they were previously undefeated in these playoffs – is with a shrug that suggests that’s what there is supposed when the Celtics have a healthy starting lineup, the opponent’s margin of error shrinks.
All their changes resulted in quality photos. Defense fueled the attack. All of their quality shots led to more possessions where the Heat had to attack an impenetrable switch-happy plan. Attack fed the defense. At this stage, the Celtics know what they are. They understand their strengths and bend them as often as they can. That’s a harsh reality for Miami.
“Right now it’s muscle memory,” Horford said when asked about Boston’s defensive identity. “We go out, we do it, we perform and everyone believes in it.”
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