Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is a person of few phrases. Throughout his interview with Allie LaForce of TNT in between the third and fourth quarters of Sport 5 of the Japanese Convention finals on Thursday night time, he uttered simply 10 of them. The primary seven stood out.
“It simply begins with our defensive id,” Mazzulla stated, when requested why the Celtics have been one of the best model of themselves in a wire-to-wire, 110-97 victory over the Miami Warmth, which saved their season alive and compelled a Sport 6 again in Miami on Saturday.
In case you simply scanned the field rating, it could not seem to be this was a defensive masterpiece by the Celtics, however the Warmth’s 51.3% capturing from the sphere and 39.1% mark from 3-point land do not inform the total story. Sure, they could have hit photographs, however they by no means obtained into a cushty rhythm due to the Celtics’ strain proper from the opening tip.
The Warmth received that bounce ball and tried to arrange Bam Adebayo with a submit iso on the suitable aspect of the ground. Solely, Al Horford compelled Adebayo to catch the ball all the way in which on the 3-point line, which meant the Warmth large man needed to put the ball on the deck in the midst of the ground to get to the basket. That was a foul thought with Marcus Good lurking; the Celtics guard reached in for a steal, dove to safe the unfastened ball and located Jayson Tatum for a fastbreak layup.
“Physicality on the defensive finish from the beginning,” Grant Williams stated. “Good set the tone the primary play of the sport, which set our protection up for the remainder of the sport and we gotta simply proceed that strain.”
The Celtics have been completely locked in.
Their pick-up factors have been within the backcourt or proper at halfcourt. They have been making the Warmth work simply to get into their units, which they then needed to begin additional away from the basket. This is a pattern of 4 possessions from the primary quarter.
The Celtics have been selecting up the Warmth early and making them work
They constructed on their preliminary strain by flying round off the ball and being sensible with when and the place they helped. This is a play late within the first half the place Jaylen Brown jumps the passing lane for a steal and will get a straightforward fastbreak layup. That each one occurs as a result of Good is up on Caleb Martin early, which makes the preliminary go out to the wing longer and extra predictable, giving Brown the power to time the steal.
Within the third quarter, the Warmth tried to submit up Adebayo with Good guarding him, so Horford shades down towards the paint and makes a tough double crew. As Adebayo kicks out to Jimmy Butler, Derrick White has already slid over to the elbow to congest the lane Butler needs to drive into and will get the steal.
On the events when the Warmth have been in a position to get into the lane, the Celtics’ self-discipline and rim safety made issues troublesome. Whereas the Warmth did shoot the ball nicely total, that was totally on powerful jumpers; on the rim they have been simply 17 of 26, a 65.4% mark that was under league common, and within the paint total they have been 26 of 47.
Only a few possessions in, White performs great protection and goes vertical to pressure a Butler miss.
A couple of minutes later, Tatum does the identical.
Within the second half, White refused to chunk on a Butler pump pretend, then Tatum stands tall to contest a wild working layup from Max Strus.
“Yeah, D-White, second crew all-defense this yr for a cause,” Tatum stated. “He is a giant a part of our crew, our id, issues we attempt to do on the defensive finish. He is a really sensible basketball participant on each ends, and his consciousness, his instincts, they confirmed tonight.”
The Celtics should not have the identical degree of protection as they did final season, however they nonetheless completed second within the league in defensive score and might dial it up when vital. That is simply what they did in Sport 5 with a superb show that completely blended power and group. The outcome was 27 factors off of 16 turnovers, which included 13 steals.
And it is that sort of depth that they will want extra of in Sport 6 in the event that they need to turn into simply the fourth crew in NBA historical past to pressure a Sport 7 after taking place 3-0.
“We performed with nice depth on protection, and I feel we simply set the tone from the bounce,” Brown stated. “We have got to have the ability to do this and carry that over into the following recreation. We’ve obtained to count on their finest punch subsequent recreation.”