Game 5 was a wild one with the Celtics icing the Heat to start the third with a 20-5 run to take control of the game after not leading at all in the first half. In a series full of adjustments, there really shouldn’t be too many because coach Erik Spoelstra knows his guys really just need to hit shots, and some of the quotes will let you know why.
Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics (-3), 7:30 pm ET
Team Totals: Heat 106.5, Celtics 109.5
Injury News: Romeo Langford (wrist) is out, Chris Silva (pubic bone) is out, Gabe Vincent (knee) is questionable.
Heat Expected Starters: Goran Dragic, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, Bam Adebayo
Celtics Expected Starters: Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Daniel Theis
Heat Rotation Notes: Bam played the full second half, Tyler Herro played the final 19, Andre Iguodala and Crowder didn’t overlap in the second half (eight for Iggy, 16 for Crowder), seven-man rotation in the second half (Solomon Hill and Kelly Olynyk in the first half, not second), Andre Iguodala got some extra minutes with Dragic fouling out (four minutes).
Celtics Rotation Notes: Kemba didn’t close and only played two minutes in the fourth, Tatum almost played the final 30, Enes Kanter had a big nine-minute stint in the second quarter, Theis played 23.5 minutes in the second half, Hayward played the final 16.
Stevens Quotes: He said Kanter’s points in the paint “really helped” and steadied the Celtics heading into halftime. Stevens said the team’s defense helped the offense. He had a hilarious quote when asked about attacking the paint from a reporter. “What’s today’s date, Tim? Nine 25 or 26? I think our first practice was on 9/26/2019, so we’ve been talking about it since then,” he said. Stevens said he needs Theis to provide output and mentioned his play against the zone defense. Stevens mentioned Jaylen did so many things like corner threes in the fourth, driving and a couple great cuts in the third. When asked about going bigger with Kanter, he said he tried the “best five” lineup and it didn’t go great, maybe because they haven’t played a lot. He mentioned that “we’ll certainly have opportunities to go back to it” but “the threat at the rim with a big makes a big difference for our offense.” Stevens added that going small against Bam doesn’t really do much because he can guard smalls so well.
Spo Quotes: Spo said run-outs hurt the Heat early after they missed easy shots, and the Celtics “put a ton of pressure on us in the paint.” Spo said his team didn’t compete hard enough, especially on the defensive end. Spo mentioned the Celtics “played with great force,” which is what he said after the Game 3 loss. When asked about the Heat missing shots, he thinks it’s “a little bit of both” on just missing open looks and with Boston playing good defense. When asked about a 3-1 lead because of what Denver has been doing, he said it has nothing to do with his team. It was clear he was way more upset with his team’s defense, especially in the second half.
Celtics Notes
*When Tatum had his second sub in during the middle of the second, that was pretty much the story here. Over that 24-minute span, he scored 23 points and the Celtics had a +24 in that span, too. They were +17 in the first nine minutes with the starters to totally flip the game and get them to a 41-point fourth. Tatum really has it going with a full arsenal of how to score, and getting to the line 10-plus times for the seventh time in these playoffs shows how he can consistently put pressure on defenses. Add that to a guy who can block, rebound and has 8.8 potential assists per game in this series, and his nightly upside is almost as high as anyone’s.
*Kemba Walker did have some foul trouble, but it really wasn’t a surprise to see him not close. He gets targeted on defense, the Heat continue to take away his strengths. It was pretty easy to see this was going to be a tough round for him.
*Jaylen Brown just makes such big plays and he’s locked in on his role. He was able to get up to 10 drives after falling off a bit in Game 4. He’ll be getting huge minutes here.
*Daniel Theis was arguably the hero of the game with 23:31 played in the second half. As mentioned above, Stevens thinks going small on Bam isn’t the answer, so Theis out there keeps Bam honest more. He really neutralized Bam’s offense, and he’s certainly earned his role to duplicate his output. That could make Hayward and Kemba a bit dicey on getting huge minutes.
*Just quickly on the “best five” lineup, Stevens may have gone away from it, but he knows he’ll probably need that lineup if his team can advance. It’s worked in the past, so that lineup will probably just have a shorter leash.
Heat Notes
Coach Erik Spoelstra knows his guys are missing. “Our guys are extremely ignitable. It can happen just like that,” he said “Our guys are like a powder-keg, our shooters. They can explode at any time.” All series, the Heat continue to miss wide-open treys at 29.9%, which comes after they lit it up to the tune of 44.0% on wide-open treys in the first two series (45.6% in the Bucks series). Both Tyler Herro and Jae Crowder are top two in wide-open attempts from deep in the Conference Finals for all four teams, but they’re at 31.3% and 30%, respectively. Spo knows the offense isn’t the problem.
*Jimmy Butler really got aggressive and almost had a huge game after a fast start, but in the second half he had just an 18.6 usage rate with a 25.5 TS% for by far his most inefficient second half of the playoffs. In Game 5, he totaled 22 drives that led to 12 points and three assists off his 13 passes out of drives. The Heat didn’t give him a lot of designed action with not much PNR and very little DHO action. Overall, the Celtics have really capped Jimmy’s offensive usage with no 27-plus usage rate games.
*Spo said Bam wasn’t favoring his arm and he said that’s not why Miami lost, but Bam himself really put the loss on him after the game. “I played like shit,” he said. “Bottom line. I put that game on me. It’s not my teammates’ fault, it’s not my coaches’ fault — just me.” Bam as a switching guy on PNR D is basically the Heat’s defensive identity, but the Celtics were able to light him up at 1.65 points per possession with Bam as a screen defender (via Second Spectrum). It just wasn’t his night and that has nothing to do with his arm issue. He’ll get that part fixed. On O, the perimeter guys just weren’t as involved with Bam as a screener with only eight points off his screens after a whopping 18 in Game 4. Bam did have 14 potential assists and that part of his game was there. Bam also could not get to the basket with only two shots at the rim, and the Celtics really took him away on those and on a lot of DHO. The bigs were dropping more while the guards really tried to fight over the top, so hat tip to Stevens. Still, Spo knows how to beat that if the Celtics do go that route more often. Bam should still be in a position to ball out.
*Boston defended Dragic very well again with just 3-of-9 uncontested. This has a little to do with how the Celtics defended some of the commonly-used action with Bam. He still had 16 points off his 17 drives, so he swapped out the easy shots he’s been getting all playoffs to get in the paint. He’s been awesome and he has so many ways to score.
*Tyler Herro just didn’t have the mojo working. He was defended well overall, but he wasn’t able to get downhill as much and that two-man chemistry with Bam wasn’t there this time. As Spo has said multiple times, the Heat need his skill set because he can do so many things, so he should be a huge part of the game plan. Duncan Robinson also cooking took some of the upside off Herro, too.
*Bench wise, we can probably expect a seven-man rotation in the second half again. We might not have seen Kelly Olynyk if not for some Bam foul trouble while Solomon Hill has actually given the Heat decent minutes as another big body to guard guys like Tatum.
Matchup Helps: Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler, Daniel Theis, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown
Matchup Hurts: Kemba Walker, most of the bench units (excluding Gordon Hayward and Tyler Herro, of course)
Good luck in your NBA and NFL lineups!
