But Jimmy Butler had a quiet night, scoring just 14 points (his lowest total of the playoffs) on 5-for-10 shooting. The Heat do have a guy who can beat great defense with great offense. That is elite defense … that hasn’t been there when their season hasn’t been on the line. The Celtics are now 4-0 when facing elimination in these playoffs, having allowed just 100.3 points per 100 possessions over those four games. You’ve got to be sound, you’ve got to chase those guys, because all night they’re going to be running.

You can’t blink because they’ll relocate, you’ll lose a shooter for a three, so you’ve got to be disciplined. “The pace they play at is kind of similar to the Warriors. “Those guys, they play at an incredible pace,” Brown said. The Heat ranked 25th offensively in the regular season, but they’re never easy to defend. The Celtics managed to apply pressure on the perimeter, while not getting taken advantage of in the paint.

Live-ball turnovers, of course, create transition opportunities, which make the Celtics’ own offense a lot easier. Their 16 turnover weren’t their most in the playoffs, but their 13 live-ball turnovers (all committed in the first three quarters) were tied for their second most in a game this season (100 total games). The Heat’s 23 3-point attempts were their fourth fewest in a game this season, and their fewest since before the All-Star break. Game 5 was more of the same, plus a reduction in 3-point volume and a whole lot of turnovers. * That’s much higher than the highest regular-season rate for any team (24% – Philadelphia) and more than double the Celtics’ rate through the first four games (14%). Through Game 4, Miami had taken *29% of its shots in the last seven seconds of the shot clock.īoston's defense has forced Miami into a plethora of turnovers while holding it under 100 points in each of the last 2 games. They were good enough to force the Heat into a lot of late-clock situations. The Celtics weren’t terrible defensively through the the first three games. “Their activity level has gone up the last two games,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “and that’s what you have to expect in a competitive playoff series.” But the Celtics were largely responsible for their opponents’ struggles. Miami was missing Gabe Vincent, who averaged 17.5 points on 58% shooting (including 11-for-22 from 3-point range) over the first four games and turned his left ankle in the fourth quarter of Game 4. And Game 5, when you subtract their nine garbage-time points, was nearly as inefficient (87 points on 81 possessions). Game 4 was the Heat’s least efficient offensive game of the postseason (18 total games, including the AT&T Play-In Tournament). And in turning a 3-0 series into a 3-2 series, the Celtics have played championship-level defense. They say that defense wins championships. So this is the team that ranked second defensively Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film from a game that made the Celtics just the 15th team (of 151 candidates) in NBA history to force a Game 6 after trailing 3-0.ġ. “I think once we got ourselves together,” Jaylen Brown said after Game 5, “we all looked each other in the eyes and said hey, we’re not going out like this.” The Celtics are still behind in this series, but given how well they’ve played over the last two games, the impossible looks a lot more likely. Boston led by at least 15 points for the entire second half … until Miami put together four straight garbage-time scores.Īfter a stunning first three games, Boston has looked a lot more like a No. The defending Eastern Conference champs came out hot in Game 5, never trailed, and stayed alive (again) with a 110-97 victory that wasn’t that close. Now, it’s 3-2, and the series is heading back to Miami for what should be an intense Game 6 on Saturday ( 8:30 ET, TNT). When they woke up Tuesday morning, the Celtics were down 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Diving for loose balls and forcing turnovers, Boston never trails in a 110-97 victory that extends the Eastern Conference Finals.īOSTON - The Boston Celtics are halfway to history.

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