Boston Celtics

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Couper Moorhead

1. It doesn’t guarantee results, but you can always rely on the HEAT to step up when it comes to playing the Celtics.

The cause is always helped when your leaders are playing like the best players on the floor. And nothing helps those leaders like the bench outplaying their counterparts on the other side.

Some rebounding issues early on for Miami as Boston came out cold while grabbing all of their own misses, Luke Kornet doing the bulk of the damage inside. Slowly but surely, however, Miami started to pull away, Tyler Herro working the mid-range against pressure and Bam Adebayo darting from closeout to closeout on the other end. As the free-throws rolled in and Boston missed one three after another, it was 29-22 Miami by the end of one.

More of the same in the second, Herro somehow drawing a shooting foul while stuck in them middle of a triple team. The HEAT were a step ahead on just about everything, far and away the team with the most energy while limiting their own mistakes. Boston had a momentary jolt of electricity when Derrick White singlehandedly halted a fast-break with play shifting into a three on the other end, but every ounce of momentum was stopped with Miami finding easy scores, layups and open threes while the Payton Pritchard was hunted whenever things slowed down. By the time Herro hit Haywood Highsmith for a buzzer-beating corner three the advantage was 59-45, Boston 3-of-18 from the arc with most of the HEAT’s advantage coming on made jumpers.

That lead hit 20 before two minutes had even expired in the third, Miami still in fourth gear and Pelle Larsson in fifth, driving for a dunk and a layup before hitting a three. Boston started to find their threes soon after and while the HEAT held them off for a time with an Adebayo corner three and some free throw, consecutive makes from Jayson Tatum – 1-of-10 from the field to that point – and Jaylen Brown pulled the gap back to eight, a 20-6 run in all.

Miami stopped the bleeding eventually, Boston missing a couple while Davion Mitchell went for a quick five, Kyle Anderson into double digits with some impressive shot making. HEAT up 91-81 through three, the comfortable cushion gone but the damage wholly mitigated by Boston’s hard charge.

Back down to four early in the fourth, Anderson again answering the call in a time of need with another six points, Boston’s guards unable to keep his methodical drives from reaching the deeper paint.

Threes from Larsson and Mitchell pushed it all the way back to 15 with five to play, and that’s the exact moment where the Celtics decided to call it, staters pulled and the white flag waved. A strange move at most points of the season, but with Boston all but locked into the No. 2 seed in the East that’s the sort of thing you get in the final weeks of the regularly scheduled slate. Miami takes it, 124-103, for their sixth win in a row.

2. This all felt like a movie we’ve seen a few times before, the HEAT earning an early advantage behind energetic defense and good shooting then holding out the stiff arm in the second half. Maybe it’s a movie that hasn’t seen as many replays this season, but it’s one that is certainly familiar for anyone who has been following the HEAT-Celtics matchup over the past five or six years.

What was different tonight, however, was the cast of characters doing the damage. Herro (25 points on 18 shots) and Adebayo (21 points on 15 shots) got everything off on the right foot, doing consistent chip damage throughout the evening, but the tale was told by everyone else. Larsson had probably the best game of his young career, 16 points on nine shots including 2-of-3 from the arc – 7-of-7 from the line helped, too, as Miami hit 11 more free throws than Boston – on top of some very effective switches onto Boston’s lead scorers. Mitchell continued his month-long heater from three, 3-of-6 including a pair of massive hits in the second half as Boston was pushing while Highsmith added 10 points of his own.

Then there was Anderson, 19 points on 11 shots who made Pritchard’s life miserable. Boston prefers to switch and keep things in single coverage, staying out of rotation, and those one-on-one matchups without help coming allowed Anderson plenty of space to attack at his speed. Miami’s rotation continues to be fluid and yet over this six-game streak every button Spoelstra pushes appears to be the correct one, one bench player after another stepping up and contributing.

3. After a brief dip against Washington Miami was back to their hot shooting ways, hitting 14-of-30 for 46.7 percent from the arc. In their eight wins over Boston in the past three seasons, playoffs included, the HEAT are shooting 45.2 percent from the arc. You could come up with a dozen reasons for why it happens, but story remains the same that the HEAT have something special when it comes to making threes against their foes up north.

This one also continued a season-long trend of the HEAT going back to a very switch-heavy defensive scheme specifically against the Celtics. As part of that narrative we also have to mention that they’ve only played Boston with Kristaps Porzingis available once and that one game was the only time they didn’t switch as often as they have in the other three matchups. Still, the switching has jammed Boston up, their spacing a little all over the place as Tatum (16 points on 17 shots) and Brown (24 points on 20 shots) struggled to find their tempo. Boston still put up an Offensive Rating of 120.0 thanks to 19 offensive rebounds, but that was enough when Miami scored 143.5 points per 100.

Too early in the night to tell how this one would affect the standings, Atlanta in a close one against the Mavericks, but the HEAT remained a game up on Chicago to stay in the No. 9 spot no matter the results elsewhere.

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Bench Shows Out, Holds Off Boston Rally For Sixth Straight Win

1. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a winning or a losing streak when the Boston Celtics come to town, all that matters is the Boston Celtics are in town.

For as good as Boston’s offense is, they can always run cold on any given night, their historically high three-point volume as susceptible to the gods of variance as anyone else.

Of course “can” doesn’t mean “will”, Boston making their first four threes – without even attempting a two – to take an early 12-4 lead, that gap eventually growing to 25-11 as Miami searched for their own first three. That first hit from deep came soon after, Tyler Herro bailing out a possession with a contested, fading attempt against the shot clock, and from that moment on the HEAT began their slow, gradual push to turn the game toward how they want it played.

Just as we saw against the Clippers on Wendesday there were hard and timed double teams and traps that have returned to the foreground in Miami’s scheme, that aggression again forcing turnovers and feeding Miami offense as Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell barreled their way to the rim. Herro eventually gave Miami the lead back as he no-looked Pelle Larsson into a backdoor layup, and from there Herro and Jayson Tatum traded runs, the lead bouncing back and forth until it settled on a halftime tie. Neither side was scoring efficiently, Offensive Ratings sitting at 104.2, but that’s the style more in Miami’s wheelhouse. That’s especially the case when Miami was the side touching the paint far more often, with Boston’s missed threes (35.7 percent) not exactly the cleanest of looks.

Still Miami’s tempo to open the third, Tatum struggling to get around Bam Adebayo on switches. Boston timeout with the HEAT up four, the Celtics trying to make up ground from outside, not in, only for Jaime Jaquez Jr. to hit a pair of corner threes to hold them off.

Boston will always have their threes, however, and for as well as Miami was shooting (44 percent late in the third) the Celtics were taking more from outside. A trio of triples, plus a Tatum leaner, gave Boston back a one-point lead going into the fourth.

Missed free throws were a bit of a thorn in Miami’s side in this one, a couple misses giving Boston the chance to regain the lead, a lead that stretched to seven off two Derrick White threes, both off the dribble with the second a deep, late bomb on a short clock with Adebayo all over him.

Defense kept forcing Boston’s bench unit to play with a short clock, Miami slow to take advantage of a series of ugly possessions. Clutch game, down to four off a Mitchell three only for White to hit another tough three.

The lead extended from there, Miami struggling to generate clean offense, and that was that, the clutch part of the game lasting only a minute as Boston takes it, 103-91, as the HEAT’s losing streak extended to six.

2. The one constant to most of Miami’s wins over the Celtics the past three seasons has been good shooting and they got plenty of it tonight, including 3-of-5 from Mitchell, 2-of-3 from Jaquez Jr. and 3-of-8 from a very aggressive – more on him later – Wiggins, all of it good for 38.2 percent from the arc.

Problem was that even with a cold spell or two Boston shot the exact same percentage while taking 16 more from the arc, good for 18 more points from threes than Miami. For as much as the HEAT were diving into the lane early on, putting pressure on a Boston defense that often prefers to switch and play single coverage so as not to get into rotation, Miami only finished with 36 points in the paint to Boston’s 30.

It should be noted, then that Adebayo and Herro combined for just 28 points on 22 shots. Part of Adebayo’s low volume, seven attempts from the field, appeared to come from the need for him to be on the perimeter setting screens to free up shooters, Boston otherwise crowding his rolls, and as we saw in the postseason last year Herro again drew the best defenders and the most pressure – which you could feel the most on Herro’s threes, with his only options often to either set up for a deep catch-and-shoot or pull off the dribble with a hand in his face.

Miami got the contributions from the role players tonight, but as is Boston’s philosophy they crowded the HEAT’s two most important players while staying home on everyone else, with the HEAT turning in an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers on top. That it was still close late despite Miami’s 98.9 Offensive Rating was a credit to the defense.

3. Speaking of that defense, after the loss to the Clippers Erik Spoelstra noted how he was trying to get the team to back to their aggressive defensive habits, sometimes using traps and doubles to get there, while getting Wiggins and Mitchell acclimated to that same approach.

While Mitchell came off the bench this time around – Kel’el Ware also came off the bench for the first time in well over a month – his presence on the ball and that of Wiggins added a different dimension to how these teams last played around the trade deadline. Mitchell was often matched up with Payton Pritchard (4-of-12), who he slowed significantly as Boston’s bench was often starved for points, or White, who hit some threes nobody would have been able to stop. And then there was Wiggins, adding another tough, physical option for Tatum (28 points on 8-of-21 shooting) while shouldering possessions on offense. It’s as tough an ask as any in the league to stop Boston’s offense with how they can create threes, but it’s no small thing that Mitchell and Wiggins were able to stop so many one-on-one, dribble attacks on their own without help.

Of course, without Kristaps Porzingis spreading the floor it was easier for Wiggins to stay on Tatum – or for Adebayo to switch with less risk – and Jaylen Brown’s presence would have made the matchups more complicated, but Mitchell and Wiggins offered the defensive dimension required to beat a team like this, in a game where the difference was often just a handful of tough make-or-miss looks, and that’s something worth remembering.

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Force A Clutch Game Before Boston Pulls Away In Final Minutes

The Miami HEAT are 25-26, No. 7 in the Eastern Conference, with an Offensive Rating of 111.2, Defensive Rating of 111.9 and Net Rating of -0.7, No. 17 in the league. With two road games left until the All-Star break, here’s what we’ve been noting and noticing.

In what was otherwise a mostly discouraging loss to Chicago in which the defense couldn’t plug the holes in the dam, there were still two very, very encouraging plays which figure to play a crucial role in the future of the team.

For as exciting as the combination of Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware is, a somewhat unique look in a league where most starting forwards are bigger wings, nobody has claimed that it is anything but a work in progress on the offensive end. Through 193 minutes the HEAT are scoring just 104.6 points per 100 possessions with that pair on the floor. That’s a number that would be an issue over the course of a full season, but the defense – 100.0 Defensive Rating – is buying the HEAT enough time to see the offensive development through.

Thanks to Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson’s ability to play through Adebayo’s perimeter creation, generating threes has not been much of a problem. It’s finding efficient two pointers – Miami is shooting 51.4 percent from two in that configuration – within somewhat cramped spacing, teams generally leaving one of Ware or Adebayo open at the arc, that has deflated the possession-to-possession efficiency. The good news is that since Ware joined the starting lineup on January 21 against Portland, Miami has converted 30 lobs in seven games, their 3.1 lobs per 100 possessions standing third in the league during that stretch and would be well and above the Atlanta Hawks’ 2.2 per 100 mark across the entire season. Six lobs in a single game would be the second-highest total in the league over the past three seasons. Miami has hit that mark three times in the past three weeks, albeit all three games (Bucks, Bulls, Nets) were losses.

Most of those lobs, 20 of the 30, have come from Herro, Robinson and Nikola Jovic, but it’s the two which have come from Adebayo and Ware themselves that are more interesting. Both of those came against the Bulls.

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Notebook 91: Big To Big Lobs

For any lineup playing two bigs, whether it’s below the rim with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph or between lobs threats like Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, that brand of play is where the magic happens. High to low, elbow to rim, catch, turn and pass. Those bang-bang passes aren’t easy reads but you can imagine that this sort of thing is being drilled regularly in practice. If the big defender is on you and you set a screen, then you know the size is behind you. Against a smaller team like Chicago, that means there’s nobody who is going to break up the lob. Just find your guy and deliver it on time and on target.

We know Adebayo, who has been working the short roll for years despite the HEAT not often having short-roll generating creators – Herro’s development this season has helped there, and Robinson is always steady with a pocket pass – but to see Ware, who has 28 assists to his name in his rookie season, return the favor was an eye opener. Sure, maybe that pass is more the result of play design and coaching than it is pure instinct – we haven’t seen enough of Ware used as a playmaker to know either way – but anything becomes instinct if you do it often enough.

Not every team is Chicago, which has allowed lobs at one of the highest rates in the league, but you start somewhere. While the team sorts out the best shot profile in their big-big lineups, if they can keep working these passes then knowing you can grab a few easy ones like this a game, created both by your guards and by the bigs, is a good foundation to build on.

For three seasons in a row, between 2020-21 and 2022-23, the HEAT were exactly the No. 3 team in the league when it came to Opponent Turnover Percentage, opponents turning the ball over on at least 15 percent of their possessions in each of those years.

Last year that number started to slip a bit, their 14.1 percent mark dropping down to No. 9. Still strong, just not quite league leading. This year, however, the HEAT have dropped down to No. 21 in the rankings. Since December 1 they are No. 25.

Right now, a few days before the All-Star break, this might be the single most important thing happening in the team’s statistical profile. Why? Forcing turnovers are the raison d’être, the entire reason for being, behind Miami’s defense. There aren’t too many words Erik Spoelstra has spoken more often in his years as head coach than “disruptive”. No matter which scheme they’re running, which coverages they’re leaning into, his teams have always prioritized forcing mistakes, cutting off drives and forcing uncomfortable passes. In the final three years of the Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh era, the team was always at least Top 3 in that category.

The HEAT don’t have to rank highly in opponent turnovers. They’re still No. 9 in Defensive Rating and No. 5 in opponent rim attempt rate, traditionally the other pillar of their defensive philosophy. It’s been some time since Miami has started a frontcourt with the size of Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware – that two-man group has an opponent turnover percentage of 11.3 percent – and it’s possible there is some recalibration happening. Still, it’s tough to imagine a Spoelstra defense that doesn’t emphasize turnovers. Everything they do to limit opposing rim attempts, aggressively pinching in on driving lanes being one of the key components, is also meant to help induce turnovers at the same time.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this as Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson are integrated into the team. All three have the combination of size, length and good hands to contribute to further chaos, in a good way. In a sense, Miami’s defense still ranking highly while their forced turnovers are down gives them a good bit of upside on that end of the floor in the coming months. Boston only committed six turnovers on Monday night, but they have the lowest turnover rate in the league so that matchup isn’t a great barometer.

One of the things that makes Boston a valuable test during the regular season is not just that they’re the defending champions, but they’re willing to do things defensively that you won’t see from other teams until a postseason series when they have time to put together a more detailed scouting report. For the Celtics, it’s just how they play.

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Notebook 91: Boston Stress Test

As Adebayo brings the ball up Boston has their two bigs, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Hoford, in the game as well. We start with an off-ball screen in the left corner. Horford immediately switches before contact is made as Boston has long been comfortable with Jayson Tatum on centers. As Boston collapses on Wiggins’ back cut and Tatum recovers out to Ware, we get a full reset up top with 12 seconds remaining. Time for Davion Mitchell to come to the ball.

Now watch that clip again and keep an eye on Derrick White for this section. For both the handoff and the ensuing pick-and-roll White goes underneath Adebayo, something defenses typically do when they’re happy to concede a three off the dribble. Later in the game, in the third quarter, White does this again to Mitchell and Mitchell attempts the three given to him.

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Notebook 91: White Under Mitchell Three

Then, back to the original clip, as Mitchell takes the driving lane, both White and Porzingis collapse to the rim. Adebayo is left open and as he receives the ball, Boston doesn’t commit anyone to a closeout. They weren’t all quite as open as Adebayo here, but with Boston generally offering soft closeouts and pulling defenders into the paint off one of Miami’s big men, Adebayo and Ware combined to take nine threes, tied for the most they’ve taken in a single game this season. The other instance of them taking nine threes happened against Milwaukee a couple weeks ago. Similar to the Celtics, the Bucks – another potential postseason opponent – were mostly content to concede catch-and-shoot threes as Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo pulled into the paint.

This is what the HEAT are going to have to contend with moving forward as they continue to develop their new lineup. Even with Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson in the starting backcourt the spacing – both Spoelstra and Adebayo have referred to it as a work in progress more than one recently – has been touch and go.

“Spacing and decision making, those have been two consistent themes over the last handful of weeks,” Spoelstra said after the Boston game. “We’re going to continue to work on it until we get more clarity and confidence on what’s working for us.”

Adding Mitchell, who has improved to a league-average shooter in the past couple seasons, albeit at lower volume, will be an interesting stress test.

One last thing on the Boston front. The Celtics were careful not to allow Adebayo much downhill space whenever he brought the ball up in transition, their big men creating a wall, much in the same way Miami has done with Antetokounmpo in the past, whenever Adebayo presented a threat at pace.

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Notebook 91: Bam Wall

Again, small details that could be relevant come the postseason. Ultimately Miami’s low Offensive Ratings against both the Celtics and Nets, two very different defenses, came down to Miami’s poor shooting from three across the board, but Monday night was a reminder that as they face more dynamic teams, the Where, When and How of those threes becomes all the more detailed.

-Kel’el Ware’s three lobs in the first quarter against Chicago tied him for the most lobs in a single quarter this season. Miami’s four total lobs in that quarter also tied the league season high for lobs in a quarter.

-Tyler Herro has thrown 35 lobs which led to a shot, No. 7 in the league this season. Since 2013-14, the most lobs any HEAT player has thrown in a season is Goran Dragic with 63 in 2019-20.

-When Herro is on the floor, Miami has an Offensive Rating of 113.1. When he is off the floor, that number falls to 102.6. That split remains one of the largest in the entire league, No. 8 among those with at least 1,400 minutes played.

-The HEAT are the No. 6 Defensive Rebounding team, by percentage, in the league. When Adebayo and Ware have been on the floor together, their number rises to what would be the best mark in the league, 77.3 percent, though since January 21 it has fallen to 69.9 with Adebayo resting.

-The HEAT are 2-8 when shooting 30 percent or worse from three. They are 14-6 when shooting 40 percent or better from three.

-An interesting quote on the defense from Spoelstra following the Boston game: “What I felt like was our resolve and focus lost steam when we started to get disjointed offensively. That happens with teams, that happens with young teams, that happens with inexperienced teams. That’s also a big thing that we’ll overcome. To be able to function defensively even if we’ve had four or five straight possessions where we missed shots or it didn’t go the way that we wanted it to. We’ll work on that, improve it and hopefully not go through those stretches where there’s so many possessions in a row that are not great, but we still have to be able to function on the other end.”

It's been interesting to hear Spoelstra referring to this group as young and inexperienced in recent weeks. It’s entirely on base, of course – there are mistakes that come with youth that every developing team has to live with, to some degree – but it’s been quite some time since Spoelstra has referred to the HEAT as such.

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Coup’s Notebook Vol. 91: The HEAT Are Suddenly Lob Kings, Defensive Slippage To Keep An Eye On And An Offensive Stress Test Against Boston

1. The HEAT weren’t going to get a real look at their full post-deadline team with both Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. out with illnesses, but there was still going to be plenty new on the court.

And what better test for all that new than the defending champions.

Erik Spoelstra opted to tweak his starting lineup even beyond the absence of Herro, going with Davion Mitchell, Alec Burks and Andrew Wiggins alongside Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware. The early defensive returns were as you might expect from a group like that, Wiggins starting on Jayson Tatum as Mitchell hounded the ball. Miami jumped out to an 18-9 lead, Boston generating little downhill as they opened 1-of-10 from deep.

Boston is not like most other teams, however, in that they will keep shooting and keep shooting no matter how many they miss simply because it’s who they are. Just as soon as Miami’s lead hit 24-18 their own offense cooled, spacing still to be figured out with so many new pieces, and Sam Hauser hit just about everything he put up.

The second quarter belonged to the visitors from the start, Miami’s advantage disappearing into an 18-0 Boston run as the HEAT went about six in-game minutes without a field-goal. A quick burst toward the end of the half mitigated the damage, Adebayo banking in a three over the top of Kristaps Porzingis at the buzzer, but it was still Boston by nine, the threes going up at their typically historic rates, after such a strong defensive opening.

An encouraging start to the third, again on the defensive end, as Miami forced a five-second inbounding violation, followed by a Wiggins three from the top to shrink the lead to six. But it was back to 12 within minutes, two more Celtics threes falling as they jumped over 30 percent from the arc on the night.

Tatum got going after his slow start, two pull-up jumpers putting him at 17 points and Boston’s lead at 16, with a stepback added on for good measure. With 2:41 to play in the period, Boston had taken 43 from deep, Tatum complimenting the shooting with a regular dose of drives as he put up 20 in the period. Adebayo did what he could to keep Miami attached, pulling in contested offensive rebounds and getting himself to the line, but the lead hit 23 by the buzzer after it was Boston’s turn for an answered prayer, White somehow getting a contested leaner to fall on a broken end-of-clock inbounds.

Miami made up a couple points early in the second but it was more of a missed opportunity during a cold Boston stretch, the lead still 21 with eight to play as Miami’s threes – some of them rushed, many of them plenty open – struggled to find the mark.

There wasn’t much more traction for the HEAT the rest of the way as Boston killed the clock while still generating solid looks. Boston takes it, 103-85.

2. The positive from tonight is that the starting lineup, Mitchell and Wiggins added in alongside the two bigs, looked like it really had something to work with on the defensive side of things. Boston is always going to take a ton of threes, but them taking 18 in that opening period – their third most of the season for a first quarter – didn’t feel entirely intentional as the HEAT loaded up the paint with size and length while Mitchell and Wiggins tracked the ball on the perimeter.

Once both teams started going into their rotation, however, Boston was able to maintain its identity while Miami’s defense softened. Those Sam Hauser threes, 5-of-8 in all, that ignited Boston’s run to take the lead for good came partially in transition, but they were almost all open, good looks as the HEAT went from the aggressors to the reactors on defense, their closeouts trailing the ball. Then, in the third, Tatum (33 points on 26 shots) first with a couple threes but sustained the quarter by picking out the matchups he wanted to hunt and finding a way to get them. Even with Adebayo and Wiggins out there, Boston would run double-high screens with the switch Tatum wanted on the back end.

Miami attempted to keep up with Boston’s three-point volume, their 45 attempts high for them while Boston’s 53 (32.1 percent overall) was a fairly normal evening for them. They got a relatively cool night from the Celtics, cool enough to make a game of it, but typically the HEAT have needed enough of their own threes in this matchup and they only hit 24.4 percent. Beyond Adebayo’s 22 points on 17 shots there wasn’t enough coming from elsewhere, Herro’s absence a hinderance – Boston was without Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday – but the shots also a tick down in the quality they can generate on an average night.

Even with some slippage, a defensive night holding Boston to 114.4 per 100 is enough to win. Miami simply isn’t going to win many games with their own Offensive Rating hitting 93.4, only a few points per 100 better than a few nights ago in Brooklyn.

3. Boston is always a fascinating matchup because they’re willing to do unconventional things on defense and make them look practiced and normal.

Whether Miami had both bigs in the game or not, the Celtics often went with two bigs of their own, rotating around Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Porzingis, and there was a clear emphasis from that trio to wall off Adebayo, two players almost holding hands to deter Adebayo whenever he gained momentum in transition off a miss. And when Miami did have their two bigs in the game, whichever of them was on the perimeter was generally left open as Boston kept two players near the rim whenever possible, the HEAT shooting 14-of-29 at the rim overall while Adebayo and Ware combined for 1-of-9 from the arc. It was also noteable that Boston often went underneath Mitchell’s screens, further compacting the paint lanes and avenues.

There are no judgements to be made about how Miami’s offense will look after their new players have been with the team for all of two days and with Herro not available, but it’s important to keep in mind that even before the trade the HEAT were a work-in-progress when it came to their offense with their new lineups. Adding in new components could grease the wheels a bit with time, but adjustments take time nevertheless.

Not every team will be as aggressive with their interior defensive spacing as Boston, but they’re always a good example of what a postseason scouting report will look like. At the very least, this is important film for the HEAT to have.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Celtics Take Control In Second And Hold Off Miami As Newcomers Make Their Debut

1. The HEAT weren’t going to get the full strength stress test they might have wanted with Jimmy Butler out on one side and Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis out on the other, both teams on a back-to-back, but they were at least going to get a test against one of the more unique offensive systems in the league.

Terry Rozier mentioned during postgame last week that Miami wants to get up 50 threes a game, meanwhile Boston is the only team in the league hitting that mark. Miami jumped out to a 7-0 start on a pullup triple from Tyler Herro, but the HEAT’s shooting went cold from there as Boston followed up with a 17-2 run of their own. The HEAT pulled back to tie it up just before the end of the first period, but then Payton Pritchard got Boston’s three-point game going in earnest, hitting a couple of deep attempts plus an open corner look against the zone, and the Celtics rode a double-digit advantage for the rest of the half, leading 60-45 at the break.

Not much more detailed analysis was required at that point. Misses in the paint compounded the issue alongside their 3-of-18 shooting from the arc, and with Boston 10-of-26 from outside it was tough to keep up despite nice, aggressive, downhill minutes from Jaime Jaquez Jr. filling in for Butler in the starting lineup. Every team in the league is trying to find ways to keep up with Boston’s offense, Miami hadn’t cracked the code yet.

Dru Smith starts for Duncan Robinson in the second half, four Boston turnovers on their first four possessions getting Miami out and running to close the gap to eight. Back to 16 quickly after that with a pair of threes and a couple of free throws from Jaylen Brown, the turnovers dried up after a timeout. Some real defensive fight followed from Miami, including Erik Spoelstra giving Keshad Johnson his first NBA minutes (at center, no less), they just couldn’t get the shots to fall when they needed them. Boston by 22 at the end of the third.

Consecutive threes for Derrick White to open the fourth and the lead was up to 24, no traction on either side of the floor for Miami. Both sides kept their regulars in for a bit longer but they were playing out the string for the most part, a thunderous Adebayo dunk aside, as Payton Pritchard (25 points on 17 shots) kept the lead over 20. Regulars came out with just over two minutes to go, and that was that. Boston takes it, 108-89, as they hit 19 threes to Miami’s seven.

2. It’s not particularly outlandish to say that no team shooting 7-of-34 from three is going to stand much of a chance against the Celtics this season, on even an average shooting night for them, beyond the most extreme circumstances, and much of it comes down to the math problem. The Celtics didn’t even shoot a particularly high percentage tonight, just 34.5 percent, but they got to their 19 threes anyways because they attempted 55. In that sense, the 34 is just as much of an issue as the seven in this matchup.  Teams, not just Miami, will either have to shoot a very high percentage if their volume will be that low or find a way to keep up in the attempts category.

That’ll be a story for another day. Tonight, a couple of Miami players who have had somewhat uneven offensive starts to the season, Jaquez Jr. and Adebayo, at least found some traction. With Boston happy to mostly single cover and cut off the kickout lanes – their modus operandi, and how they help to keep their opponent’s arc volume low – Jaquez Jr. displayed a determination to get downhill, shoulders-first, as often as possible, scoring 19 on 14 shots and most importantly getting to the line for 12 attempts thanks to his physicality.

Adebayo (15 points on 18 shots) didn’t have a great start to the evening, missing a bunch of wheelhouse attempts in the paint, but even with the game out of reach he appeared to be working out the kinks in his game, taking Luke Kornet off the dribble for a powerful dunk and looking for his own offense. Nobody is going to claim it was a good night for Adebayo, but during that late push you could feel his displeasure with his own play. Sometimes those late, forgotten stretches in a double-digit game have value down the road. We should note, though, that most of it was self-created, and for as much as Adebayo’s isolations and post-ups have been cut down this season he’s still seen a career-low percentage of his makes come from assists. His percentages will find their level over time, particularly in the paint, though there’s still some balancing to do with where he’s finding his opportunities.

3. Some interesting lineup decisions from Spoelstra on a night that wasn’t all that interesting in the end.

First, it was the move to not only give Dru Smith rotation minutes but to start him in the second half, which was not an injury related move as Duncan Robinson still played second half minutes. We’ve long held that Smith has the game to fill a very similar role to the one that Gabe Vincent one filled in Miami, a grind-it-out point guard who can shoot it and defend above his weight class, and this game sure backed up that idea with Smith hitting a couple of threes, taking a couple of charges – not as common for the HEAT this year – and coming up with some pure-energy steals. Wouldn’t read much into the Robinson part of the move as Spoelstra was likely just looking for some defensive tenacity to help Miami eat into the lead, which did work for a couple minutes before Boston kept hitting from outside, but every time Smith has played in his limited opportunities this season he’s made a steady impression.

The other move was Keshad Johnson playing center during his debut in the second half. Johnson has been putting up consistently eye-catching numbers with the Sioux Falls Skyforce and has been rewarded with some callups of late, but as much as his athleticism projects at the pro level center is not the position one would have thought he’d play much of despite the switchable potential on defense. Well, on a night when Kevin Love and Kel’el Ware were both unavailable and Spoelstra searching for a spark, Johnson got the shoulder tap. He didn’t get much of an opportunity to make an impression with how the game played out in his six minutes beyond a nice cut for a dunk – Boston wasn’t exactly playing big, nor running much offense through the size they did have – but the mere idea that Spoelstra had to play him a position or two up should give you an idea of what the team thinks of his potential.

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Run Cold As Celtics Threes Prove Insurmountable

1. Everyone knew the Miami HEAT, already down Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier and now with Jaime Jaquez Jr. also injured, were in a tough spot headed to Boston down 3-1. The Celtics knew that, too, of course, and they clearly weren’t interested in messing around.

This wasn’t a game for adjustments, Miami’s main change being to play Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin the full 24 in the first half. It was just about an undermanned team struggling to score while the Celtics chugged along at their best scoring rate of the series, hitting 10 of their first 17 threes and not slowing down from there beyond missing a handful of free throws. Derrick White continued his torrid pace from Game 4, 15 points on his ledger before nine minutes were up in the first period, as Boston hunted their mismatched and found their open shots after a long sequence of dribble drives to open the night. By halftime Boston was 9-of-9 at the rim in a series where they’ve averaged 12 makes a night in the restricted area, White had combined with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for 49 points on 30 shots and they were running a 142.6 Offensive Rating. Down 22 at the break after trailing by as much as 30, if Miami was going to recapture the magic they had in Game 2 they were still looking for it.

Boston back up 30 a few minutes into the third, an 8-0 capped as White hit his fourth three. Adebayo was doing what he could to keep the offense moving, as aggressive as Miami’s situation needed him to be, but there wasn’t nearly enough else as the HEAT couldn’t keep up, their three-point shooting down to 10.3 percent – worst mark of the past five years – in the fourth as Adebayo finally rested. Not much of a playoff feel to the rest of the game, the mountain too steep for the HEAT to climb, as both sides played out the clock, most rotation players pulled. Boston take the game, 118-84, and the series, 4-1, as they advance to play the winner of Cleveland-Orlando.

Some seasons end in the NBA Finals after an incredible run from the No. 8 seed, others end quietly in five First Round games. Maybe this group had more in them had everyone been healthy. Maybe there was magic left in that well. We’ll never know. For now, a long season is over as a long offseason – longer than this group has had in a few years – looms.

2. Nobody will be able to say that Adebayo didn’t leave everything on the floor in this series. Miami practically couldn’t take him off the floor through the first four games, such were his plus-minus numbers, so tonight they decided not to take him of the floor at all as he played all 36 of the first 36 minutes. Adebayo defended Tatum full time – starting possessions on him, at least, as Miami switched more often than they had all regular season – since Game 2, but the Celtics had too many mismatches to chase, while planting Adebayo’s assignments in the corner, for him to cover every inch of the pitch, so to speak. Boston will finish this series as efficient in half court as they were during the regular season largely on the strength of everything they ran away from Adebayo.

Adebayo went out shooting, too, taking a career postseason high 26 shots on his way to 23 points, but Boston never changed their coverage of him for one moment all series long, electing to defend him one-on-one and live with his shot creation. Even with Adebayo shooting well in the paint all series before tonight, Boston’s choices effectively made him a make-or-miss player, all playmaking avenues cut off for one of the best playmaking centers in the league. He’s come a long way in terms of developing his isolation and post play, and his work in that area held off Boston in Miami’s Game 2 win, but if there’s a next step for a player who has taken so many steps each offseason, it will be finding a way to force teams into doubling him. During the regular season that was happening often enough, a real trend down the stretch, but postseason schemes are a different animal. This won’t be a series with much worth remembering outside of one win with historic shooting, but the history books will remember Adebayo doing all he could.

3. It’s understandable if some aren’t receptive to the idea that there was real value in youngsters like Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr. getting on-court experience against one of the best teams in the league, but it matters. It matters that they felt the postseason, felt how the game changes, how the pace and physicality and general rhythm of the game is unlike anything you see in the first 82. It matters that they were key parts of a road postseason win, that they could see what success on that stage looks like. It matters that they felt a postseason scout, how an opponent zeroes in on all your strengths and weaknesses, trying to take away the former while forcing you to the latter. It won’t seem like much now, but when the next season and the next series comes along, and there’s always a next season and next series, this will mean something for them. It’s one thing for everyone to tell you what the playoffs are like. There’s no substitute for first-hand experience.

It doesn’t hurt that both, with starters minutes, handled themselves well. Jaquez Jr. was leading the entire series in drives before his Game 4 injury, and Jovic was shooting the leather off the ball in key stretches while holding up on switches. Now we get to see what they do with this overload of information now readily available.

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Coup’s Takeaways: Boston Leads Wire To Wire As Miami’s Season Ends In First Round

1. Miami made their adjustments in Game 2. Boston countered in Game 3. The question coming into Game 4 was whether further adjustments were coming from either side, or if the best adjustment was going to have to be doing the things you’re already doing and doing them better.

It looked like the HEAT may have made one interesting tweak, opening in their zone coverage on the very first possession of the game, but it appeared to be more of a show than a tell as they returned to their man-to-man the possession after. Miami was also taking more threes through the first six minutes than they had in Game 3 when Boston made more of a concerted effort to pressure the ball and close out to shooters, but the shot profile became much more two-point dominant after that stretch. The good news was that Tyler Herro was managing Boston’s increased ball pressure in rhythm, setting himself up for three early scores on drives and another lob to Bam Adebayo. The bad news was that Derrick White was tossing fireballs around, hitting all variety of three pointers on his way to 22 first-half points on 6-of-9 from three.

After Boston scored 34 in the first quarter, again breaking Miami’s zone with threes, the HEAT settled things down in the second with their switching as Boston was unable to generate consistent makes no matter how many mismatches they hunted. Miami’s offense, however, struggled even more, 3-of-16 from three even including two early makes, their mid-range game coming up mostly empty. Only 19 in the quarter for the visitors, but only 12 for the HEAT, Boston leading by 17 at the break. Kristaps Porzingis leaving the game with a calf injury, doubtful to return, changed the look of the game, but Miami was already working uphill.

With Al Horford starting the second half, a quick 5-0 burst from Boston put the lead at 22. Miami was making them work for it, no doubt, as their switching held up, but consecutive White cuts down the middle for dunks as Jrue Holiday drew two in the post followed by a Jaylen Brown fast-break dunk eventually had it at 23. At 4-of-22 from three, Miami could neither find the makes nor the clean takes. Boston let Adebayo shoot one, though and a three from him and a burst from Patty Mills kept thing manageable at 22 before the end of the period, 81-59 headed into the fourth of a physical, grind-it-out night.

Some jumpers started to fall as the Celtics missed inside, the lead down to 15 with eight to play, but Boston immediately responded with a clean corner three from Holiday and a Tatum dunk down the middle. Back to 15 soon after, another couple jumpers falling, an Adebayo layup in transition forcing a Boston timeout with 5:21 to play, Miami within 13 – close enough to challenge Boston’s late-game offense. Right after that came a dead-ball flagrant foul on Adebayo against Tatum, a White floater after that pushing it back to 17 as time began running short. A few minutes of prevent offense later, Boston takes the game, 102-88, and the series lead to 3-1. Game 5 is Wednesday in Boston.

2. Much to the chagrin of everyone wearing white in the building, the story of the evening was Derrick White, his 38 points on 26 shots a clear standout on a night when just about nobody else had it going on either side – Tatum and Brown combining for only 37 points on 32 shots.

Some of it was spot-up threes, but so much of White’s night came on what would otherwise be All-Star level shots, drives and pull-up jumpers off the dribble including a heartbreaker in the first half, a hand in his face as the shot clock expired. As it has been for most of this series, Boston has had a clear plan and even clearer aggression whenever Miami toggled into zone, and tonight it was White taking an immediate, but not rushed, three as soon as he got a catch in the wing seam of the zone. With White also hounding ballhandlers on the other end, finishing with three blocks on top of it all, he’s the player of the night and then some. While Miami was missing crucial playmakers in Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, as they have all series, it was Boston’s fourth-leading player in usage rate, at less than 20 percent during the season, who had the Celtics working with a double-digit lead for most of the evening.

3. If there’s any silver lining to a game like this, there’s some solace to take in the fact that Miami’s switching scheme, which they’ve been using ever since Spoelstra’s adjustment in Game 2, has held up relative to the explosive scoring potential Boston has showed all season long. This was a 93-possession game, neither team playing much in transition as has been the case all series, Miami creating the pace that fits their style and playing with ball-pressuring physicality to match what the Celtics have been bringing on the other end. Boston only finished with an Offensive Rating of 108.5, well below their season average, Miami pushing them into the upper paint for most of their off-the-bounce looks with plenty of possessions going up against the clock. Granted, the Celtics missed quite a good looks in the paint after driving mismatches of their choosing, but some credit for that is due Miami’s help defenders for waiting until the right moments to collapses without allowing obvious kickout passing lanes.

If nothing else, Miami’s available players, beyond those like Adebayo (25 points on 22 shots) who have proven their defensive bonafides beyond a shadow of a doubt, have shown themselves capable of the physical style of defense required in postseason play. It doesn’t change the results, and Miami has a most difficult task ahead of them, but that’s not nothing given what they’re missing on offense. This group must be great defensively to give themselves a chance, and for the most part they have been.

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Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Make Late Push But Derrick White Pushes Boston Into 3-1 Series Lead

1. After all that historic shooting in Game 2, Miami hitting a franchise postseason record 23 triples en route to that double-digit victory, the question on the minds of many was how much of that performance was sustainable.

Boston, it turns out, wasn’t interested in finding out. After leaving most anyone not named Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson enough airspace to get shots off in the previous contest, helping well off to jam up pick-and-rolls, the Celtics came out with a different gameplan. No more helping one pass away, particularly out of the corners, and the ball pressure was dialed way up. The HEAT started off cold offensively, 1-of-10 from the floor and 0-of-4 from three, but they weren’t comparable shots to those they had made so many of before. Contested was the word of the day.

Fortunately for Miami, Boston wasn’t getting much better through most of the first quarter, only scoring 21 points themselves, the HEAT’s defense holding strong while the offense produced just 12. Yet as soon as the second quarter began, the lead began to stretch, Boston opening the period with back-to-back threes against the zone from Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser, and with Payton Pritchard pressuring ballhandlers into a couple messy turnovers, Boston held strong up 16-18 points until another late run pushed the lead into the 20’s. A 24-point game at the break after a 42-point quarter for the Celtics, Miami scoring just 39 points overall with an Offensive Rating of 84.8 while Boston was 8-of-21 from three with four players in double figures.

Better offense to open the third helped cut into the lead a little bit, Jaime Jaquez Jr. getting downhill and Herro canning a three, but a handful of easy Boston scores kept it from being much of a run. Miami turned up their own ball pressure, the Celtics mostly handling it well as the lead hung around 20, and for as much as the HEAT were scoring reasonably well they were still being pushed into the mid-range as they were in Game 1, the length of Porzingis a hinderance at the rim. Boston by 26 after three, another pair of deep shots coming against the zone when Adebayo (20 points on 18 shots) got his rest.

Not much to say about the fourth quarter, Boston holding strong as they took a 2-1 series lead with a 104-84 victory.

2. Comparing Miami’s offense from Game 2 to Game 3 is somewhere on the apples-to-oranges spectrum, the shot profile from their previous victory entirely unlike the shots the HEAT were getting tonight. Many came into this game wondering if Boston would adjust, much less how, and the answer was clearly less.

Miami’s shooters didn’t have the same space and Herro didn’t have remotely the same reads, no shooters open on the wings as he came off screens and handoffs. Instead, it was all ball pressure all the time from Boston’s side and while there remained some help on Herro’s actions it was softer, less deliberate and certainly not pre-loaded as it had been before. The difference in Miami’s process was that their three-point shot volume was nearly cut in half, what had previously been a catch-and-shoot three became upper paint attempts off the dribble. Herro, for example, only took two two-pointers in Game 2, but in Game 3 he had taken seven through three quarters of play. The HEAT can certainly shoot better than 12-of-31 in the upper paint, but their rim rate remained low with just eight attempts. Credit Boston for being willing to alter their gameplan just as the HEAT did before Game 2. Now we see how Miami adjusts.

3. The HEAT’s big defensive adjustment going into Game 2 was to put Adebayo on Tatum and switch everything, which led to Boston’s halfcourt offense slowing down as they settled for chasing one-on-one matchups. Still, their halfcourt offensive rating in that game was a flat 100, still above average.

Tonight, that number was 113 before starters were pulled with a few minutes to go. It wasn’t because Boston caught fire from three, shooting just 29.7 percent on 37 shots – though their makes against the zone were particularly harmful, as they came in bunches and led to short runs both times Adebayo sat – but until the late game when Tatum and Jaylen Brown (44 combined points on 36 shots) started draining the clock a little, there was more verve to the way Boston was moving in the halfcourt, a calm but intentional approach as they committed just five turnovers. No one player dominated the ball, White and Porzingis getting early touches as their efficiency (34 points on 23 shots) proved the difference after Boston’s role players came up mostly empty in Game 2. Boston ended the night with a 122.6 Offensive Rating despite fairly average shooting across the board. With their switching approach the HEAT will likely live with, unless they adjust, some one-on-one scores, but there are some possessions – transition scores, backdoor cuts in the halfcourt, White putting back a missed free-throw – that will surely be a point of emphasis in the coming days.