That's a weird way of putting it.So now Mazzulla left the starters in too long.
I disagree with the fact of that. I don't think they starters were in the game in the final minute because their endurance was being tested. I don't think they were played too many minutes - 41 is more or less an ordinary playoff game for Tatum who led the team. I think they were in late because they played like absolute shit for the first 8 minutes of the 4th, letting Miami go on a 29-12 run that closed the lead to a point where Mazzulla needed to have the starters finish because the run needed to be stopped in order to win.Reddick explained the reasoning - you clearly don't agree with that - it was because they haven't played serious, heavy minutes hoops in a while. I'd rather test the starters endurance in a blowout win than trying to see what a gassed Tatum has left if Miami gets them close and late deeper into the series.
If Tatum suffered any lingering injury, then, yes, they are. It seems he did not, but I'd rather not see those risks taken unnecessarily.Boston is apparently in huge trouble...
This was the best case scenario once we got up 30+. The exhale occuring today is much preferred to it taking place in G2. It was going to occur at some point so this is perfect.Hopefully they got the trap game out of their system in the fourth.
Nitpick but they went into the 4th with a 32 point lead, and they were still up 31 at the 7:49 mark. Miami then went on an 18-2 run to make it 103-88 at the 4 minute mark. Then the Celts played fine for the final 4 minutes and it never got closer than 14. It was a bad 4 minute stretch though.I think they were in late because they played like absolute shit for the first 8 minutes of the 4th
Fair enough. But that bad 4 minute stretch was basically the starters, with Horford instead of White. It was Tatum, White (and then Holiday in for White for a minute), Horford, Hauser, and Pritchard who mostly held the lead. JB and KP came in for Pritchard and Hauser at 6:56, with the Celtics up 28, and they were outscored 15-2. Then White came in for Horford and the Celtics outscored the heat by 11-6 the rest of the way.Nitpick but they went into the 4th with a 32 point lead, and they were still up 31 at the 7:49 mark. Miami then went on an 18-2 run to make it 103-88 at the 4 minute mark. Then the Celts played fine for the final 4 minutes and it never got closer than 14. It was a bad 4 minute stretch though.
Looks like Joe tightened up his rotation in the second half. IIRC, Hauser didn’t see the floor.Any idea why Hauser played such short minutes? (I watched the first half and taped the second which I haven’t watched yet)
Glad to see you posting!!FWIW, Hauser played another rotation at the start of the 4th
Co-sign.Good god.
Agreed. Joe has tape to work on & they witnessed what happens if they take their foot off the pedal. A 20-point win is probably a better outcome than a 35-point blowoutThis was the best case scenario once we got up 30+. The exhale occuring today is much preferred to it taking place in G2. It was going to occur at some point so this is perfect.
The big rotation change Mazzulla made was to his first substitution. For most of the season when the team was healthy, it was Tatum and Holiday out, Horford and Hauser in, somewhere between the 5 and 7 minute mark.Any idea why Hauser played such short minutes? (I watched the first half and taped the second which I haven’t watched yet)
The 4th quarter issues also helped them to avoid this classic Spoelstra trap!Their best strategy is to soften up the Celtics by allowing a 50-pt win then adjust to make G2 a 4Q halfcourt game in the 90’s.
The Chief looks great! Not a surprise.
And on 4/20, which makes it very much NOT a surprise for the Chief... ;-}They walked through that door!
Bucks starters also stayed in until the end up 20So now Mazzulla left the starters in too long. Reddick explained the reasoning - you clearly don't agree with that - it was because they haven't played serious, heavy minutes hoops in a while. I'd rather test the starters endurance in a blowout win than trying to see what a gassed Tatum has left if Miami gets them close and late deeper into the series.
This is sports, these are athletes in their 20s and 30s playing as hard as they can. Injuries are a risk all the time.
The C's handled the Heat in game one. Boston is apparently in huge trouble...
So.. you're thought is that the Celtics ...up over 30 points... just weren't mentally tough enough to maintain that lead and they let the Heat back in the game to close it to 20 by the end?Fair enough. But that bad 4 minute stretch was basically the starters, with Horford instead of White. It was Tatum, White (and then Holiday in for White for a minute), Horford, Hauser, and Pritchard who mostly held the lead. JB and KP came in for Pritchard and Hauser at 6:56, with the Celtics up 28, and they were outscored 15-2. Then White came in for Horford and the Celtics outscored the heat by 11-6 the rest of the way.
Did they show Bird / Parish etc at all during the game? I missed any sort of discussion of that by Redick / Doris and co. Would have thought they'd make a big deal of it in pregame , or go to them during a timeout to get the crowd pumped.And on 4/20, which makes it very much NOT a surprise for the Chief... ;-}
Good post. IIRC, they ran some kind of zone full-court press in the first half for a few series. But, yes, they'll have to try something more aggressive, maybe man trapping. Pritchard seems like a good counter-move to this, potentially, as he plays super fast energy and a good handle (although his height could be a liability against traps). I imagine it's hard to maintain this defense for Miami, though, when you barely have 7-8 real NBA players to throw out there.I’m interested to see how Spo tries to get the Celtics away from the 3 point shooting. Clearly the zone was ineffective. Clearly they can’t guard in man. Some sort of full court press to drain clock so the Celtics can’t pass it around? Try to force turnovers?? Tough one. He’ll have something.
I commented in the game thread but it did seem like they got a bit shook about going to the rim sometime starting late first quarter. Whether it was frustration with the physicality / not getting calls, missing a few shots in close, whatever, but it was noticeable to me that they kind of stopped trying to get to the rim. The first quarter ended with only a 5 point lead, and the Heat scored the first bucket of the 2nd to cut it to 26-23. At that point the Celts were only 6-18 from 3. It really wasn’t pretty. But of course Hauser came in and knocked down 3 straight and that was pretty much ballgame. Once the lead got back up over 10 it never dropped below again.Good post. IIRC, they ran some kind of zone full-court press in the first half for a few series. But, yes, they'll have to try something more aggressive, maybe man trapping. Pritchard seems like a good counter-move to this, potentially, as he plays super fast energy and a good handle (although his height could be a liability against traps). I imagine it's hard to maintain this defense for Miami, though, when you barely have 7-8 real NBA players to throw out there.
One thing I didn't love from C's offensive perspective: they started out getting a lot of looks at the hoop with Tatum and Brown, sometimes kicking it out for great looks from 3, helping them build the early 15 point lead. Brown bungled a few opportunities with shaky ball-handling, but it was there early. I don't know if Miami made an adjustment, but from the 2nd quarter on, it turned more into Circus of Three Pointers, which we hit enough of to do fine, but I wondered what happened to the early close-mid-range looks. Tatum hit a few foul-line post-ups... KP as well.. I don't remember seeing one single JB mid-range fade-away (the thing where he dribbles in, then turns and shoots a foul-line jumper over a helpless Duncan Robinson)... in general it seemed we spent a lot less time near the hoop after the opening quarter.
I hope to see G2 emphasis on getting close-mid-range looks for JB and others. Horford, for one, had the opportunity to get bunnies at the basket all day when the C's went 2bigs (he posted once or twice, and it looked like light work). Miami just doesn't have another big body besides Bam to throw at anyone.
Exactly. To be honest, in real time, it felt rather like laziness.They'd been getting to the hoop, drawing the defense, then kicking it out for open looks... and it worked so well in their opening run that they decided, "Let's skip the kick-out part of this and just shoot the three, since it's working so well." But maybe there was an adjustment Miami made to limit looks at the hoops and allow more open looks from deep, I don't know.I commented in the game thread but it did seem like they got a bit shook about going to the rim sometime starting late first quarter. Whether it was frustration with the physicality / not getting calls, missing a few shots in close, whatever, but it was noticeable to me that they kind of stopped trying to get to the rim. The first quarter ended with only a 5 point lead, and the Heat scored the first bucket of the 2nd to cut it to 26-23. At that point the Celts were only 6-18 from 3. It really wasn’t pretty. But of course Hauser came in and knocked down 3 straight and that was pretty much ballgame. Once the lead got back up over 10 it never dropped below again.
I think part of this was the defense, Miami playing to take the drive away and (thus) concede the three. I think if you were Miami you had to be pretty happy with coming out of the first quarter down only 5, but clearly, what they were doing did not hold up.Exactly. To be honest, in real time, it felt rather like laziness.They'd been getting to the hoop, drawing the defense, then kicking it out for open looks... and it worked so well in their opening run that they decided, "Let's skip the kick-out part of this and just shoot the three, since it's working so well." But maybe there was an adjustment Miami made to limit looks at the hoops and allow more open looks from deep, I don't know.
Good point. With Butler out they lack the Alpha hunter to go after PPIt makes sense to throw Pritchard in against this version of the Heat, without Butler to target him when Miami has the ball, and on the other end of the court his dribbling skills help against Miami’s grabby/reaching defense.
Generally agree with this, but several of those 3s were not great looks. A couple from Tatum come immediately to mind. I don't care if they shoot 60 3s. I just want them to be good looks within the offense.Good point. With Butler out they lack the Alpha hunter.
After CJM reviews the tape, I bet we'll see a little more of PP/Hauser going forward in this series. Not to "goon it up" but Bam needs to be introduced to Tillman for 4-5 minutes.
As far as shot selection, opting for open Corner3s from Jrue, Hauser, PP, White, Horford over
the JAYs dribbling into traffic hunting for a mid-range turnaround or fadeaway is the "Good vs Great Shot" approach they have taken most of the season. Tatum did a great job kicking out, once he drew attention, for those wide-open 3s.
Pay no mind to the NBA Media's pearl-clutching OMG they shot 18 3s in Q1 nonsense (hoping JJ is there throughout to keep Doris in check)
Agreed. I'd rather not see early shot clock Tatum ATB 3s from the right side (44% vs 23% is pretty stark)Generally agree with this, but several of those 3s were not great looks. A couple from Tatum come immediately to mind. I don't care if they shoot 60 3s. I just want them to be good looks within the offense.
Good question. In the C’s season thread someone posted that the C’s made 1 more hoop than the Heat in a 20 point win. I suppose Herro could get hot for a game or two. Give him 30 and Bam 25. Where are the other 60 points coming from that they’ll need to beat the Celts?Where does Miami find points? Boston blanketed Herro, and played very aggressively through Bam screens. Miami has to get extremely hot from three to stay with the Celtics.
Question for people who are much smarter than me...lets take your numbers as accurate and of their 49 3's 14 of them were bad (or at least, not good looks). Isn't some of the reason they get so many good looks is because Tatum is good enough at the early shot clock 3s that they have to defend it, and the celts exploit that in most of their possessions? Saying it the opposite way, if they knew he wasnt willing to take those shots every once in awhile they would be much easier to defend?Here are all the 3s. I don't have the patience to analyze each one, but quick takeaway is that the 45% the Celts shot felt about right for the looks they got. They hit some ones they shouldn't have, missed some they should have made, and of the 49 3s I'd say maybe ~35 of them were great looks.
https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=FG3A&EndPeriod=0&EndRange=28800&GameID=0042300101&PlayerID=0&RangeType=0&Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Playoffs&StartPeriod=0&StartRange=0&TeamID=1610612738&flag=3&sct=plot§ion=game
This is Miami's biggest challenge: they can dirty-up on defense and hope for weaker shooting; on offense, though, other than hoping for turnovers that lead to transition baskets they are going to struggle to get to the 105 or more points they need. Threre's only real two on-ball creators on the roster: Butler (who is out) and Rozier (who isn't great, but can do it)...and is also out. So what's left?I thought the Cs played pretty good offense until they got up 30+ and then they got bored. Obviously not ideal but they're human. But here's MIA's problem in a nutshell. According to NBA.com, Herro did this against BOS's defenders:
1-3 vs JB
1-3 vs Jrue
0-1 vs Al
0-2 vs KP
1-2 vs PP
0-2 vs DW
no shots versus JT.
Everywhere Herro turns, he's being guarded by someone who can make his life difficult.
At one point, MIA decided to try the Love-Hauser matchup with a modicum of success on a couple of possessions. Kevin Love in the post is not a great way to run offense in 2024.
Bam is not very ball-secure. We started sending help at him when he got down low in the post, and we got one or two steals and fast-breaks out of it. He also will pick up his dribble at the first sign of trouble. There were one or two times he managed to hit a fadeaway jumper from ~10 feet over Porzingis - not an easy feat, surely - but we knew he was high percentage once he got there, and we sent swipers to do some swiping at the ball before he could really get his shot. It probably depended a bit on who was out there, can we live with them getting an open 3, etc, because Bam is a pretty good-vision passer. But yes, while he showed his agility advantage vs KP, we also had counters ready, I think.In the few minutes I watched, Bam took Porzingis into the post and scored very easily numerous times in a row. As it was, he shot 10-18 for the game (56%). Why didn't he try to score more?
Of the 10 he made, several were pretty difficult shots. I'll take their defensive performance against him (and Herro) every day of the week (and it will result in a sweep IMO).In the few minutes I watched, Bam took Porzingis into the post and scored very easily numerous times in a row. As it was, he shot 10-18 for the game (56%). Why didn't he try to score more?
Good analysis.This is Miami's biggest challenge: they can dirty-up on defense and hope for weaker shooting; on offense, though, other than hoping for turnovers that lead to transition baskets they are going to struggle to get to the 105 or more points they need. Threre's only real two on-ball creators on the roster: Butler (who is out) and Rozier (who isn't great, but can do it)...and is also out. So what's left?
1. Bam: A great tertiary scorer and versatile offensive player who neither can nor wants to be a primary option. Is it possible he'll step up to mid-20s on shots and be a fulcrum? Possible, but history says unlikely.
2. Herro: Also a good supporting guy who has never really been a lead, and probably doesn't quite have the tools to do so. His best asset---shooting and penetration when D is in rotation---isn't viable when he's the defensive focus
3. Jaquez: As several noted, they tried to feature him more but he's a third/fourth scorer who can be aggressive but can't really be a fulcrum. Doesn't have the bag, physically not able to beat plus defense consistently, and not enough of a shooter to get an advantage via shot-fakes
4. Robinson: in addition to being hunted on D, he is a rotation scorer not a primary
5. Caleb Martin: Will need another deal with the devil.
What will Spo do? To me, he will double-down defensively on what they tried second half of game 1: dirtying up the D in terms of scheme and physicality, hope for more turnovers, and keep working to create one on one looks for Bam, Herro, Jaquez and hope they can deliver. I'm not sure what else he has? I guess they could do some more two-man games iwth Robinson to try and get spacing - they need more threes, too. But Celtics should (and in game 1 did) fry him defensively.
With Jimmy, Heat are underpowered offensively. Without him, you're left hoping for a lot to go right.