The Toronto Raptors beat the Boston Celtics in seven games to advance to the Eastern Conference Conference finals, while the Miami Heat needed just five men to knock out the Milwaukee Bucks. Both teams are stingy and defensive switches and both get offense from different sources. The third-ranked Celtics are widely considered a favorite, but the hit is nothing but the typical No. 5 seed. Here are 10 questions to preview the series starting on Tuesday:
1. Can the Celtics handle the Miami zone?
Boston couldn’t get the Raptors back on the strength of its offense, which was particularly visible outside of the lookout against zone coverage. The B-X-End-One made it difficult for Kemba Waker to find his rhythm-running peak-end-rolls and produce shots for Boston as they normally do. Miami knows this, and has played more zones than any other NBA team this season.
Maybe the Celtics prepared for what comes in the second round. They were in full-time problem-solving mode, and their coaching staff would make sure they wouldn’t be surprised if the heat game started in zones 1 to 2-3. It’s also possible, however, that zoning up is an effective way to tackle the best thing you’ve ever done when the Boston Ball is occupied: giving it to Waker and setting up screens for it.
One thing that can make the zone less tenable is the other playmakers and shooters in the lineup that bring us here…
2. What about Hayward?
Coach Brad Stevens said Gordon Hayward went through a small group workout after practice on Monday and “felt good when he was going through,” but there’s a big difference between doing it and really getting into the game. “He won’t play in the opener, but if he is available later and can predict his game in the regular season, he could change the Celtics’ sense of offense.
Hayward’s use was only 20.6 percent this season, but that’s far less than his skills and how important he could be in this type of range. What makes Boston unique is that, at full strength, it can cause matchup problems with four perimeter players, making it difficult for anyone to zero in on defense or hide a weak defender. Hayward is just as comfortable making plays for others as he is for himself, which can’t be said about Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown, so his presence naturally makes the crime more pop.
3. How will the Celtics match defensively?
The luxury of starting four Multipositional Defenders is that Stevens has all sorts of options. What interests me most is who is on Goran Drazic at the beginning of Game 1 and who is on Bam Adebayo.
First-team all-defense guard Marcus is a clear choice to slow down Smart Drazic, who was one of the league’s best reserves in the regular season and has been an extraordinary starter in the playoffs, a tremendous driver of Miami’s success in offense. Tatum is an interesting option, though, and his length may be able to disrupt Drake’s rhythm – he and Brown both spent a lot of time defending Raptors guards Kylie Lori and Fred Wenwallit in the second round (and probably ly Jimmy Butler will both draw duty) ).
Sounds like a default default matchup for Daniel This Adebayo, but I’ll bet the Boston series gets creative at some point. If Stevens is experimenting with brown or even smart on it, you can expect Grandpa on the way from Adebayo to the rim and to the free throw line. In that view, however, the big man is often the one who is called the wrong way. Which gives us …
Can. Can Celtics deal with balm ingredients?
The Heat gets an astonishing amount of mileage in making Adebayo stuff that opposing teams don’t often see. It’s a total bizarre on offense, a kind of hybrid of Dremond Green and Domantas Sabonis, unconventional all-stars in their own right, but more foot-speed and explosiveness than both of them.
Adebayo will push the ball forward with a defensive rebound and find easy easy balkats outside the dribble-handoffs. When he has the ball at the elbow, Miami puts up a defense like the Golden State Warriors, often with screens and cuts ending with Adebayo supporting earnings – and if he finds out you’re playing him for a pass, gladly attack yourself on the basket. . Boston knows all about his chemistry with Duncan Robinson, and if he decides to hide Thais elsewhere, it’s probably for switching purposes when he gets involved in the two actions.
5. Is there a match-hunting answer against the hit?
The Celtics ’offensive approach will be completely different than in the second round. “Isolation is not the answer,” Stevens said two weeks ago, but it could be now. While the Heat can be a devastating defensive team, they have a few weak individual defenders in their rotation. The Indiana pacers were the best in the first round when Drake, Robinson and Tyler attacked Hero one by one. Miami can cope by giving Andre Igudala and Derrick Jones Jr. more minutes, but that means sacrificing distance at the other end.
Boston seems uniquely suited for absorbing heat here, especially when they are switching off the ball screen. The Celtics have been more than a pick-and-roll team in these playoffs and have had little success in isolation, but championship contenders need to be able to play different ways against different opponents. This matchup makes me think about their two-round series two years ago, in which they repeatedly targeted Philadelphia 76ers JJ Reddick, Dario Sarik, Marco Bellinelli and Erson Ilyasova.
6. Will the heat stay hotter than this cold?
Miami fundamentally changed when he replaced Mayor Leonard with J. Crowd and the hero recovered from the injury. Prior to the Crowder’s launch on February 9, Miami was ninth in 3 times frequency and second in accuracy, per cleaning glass. In seeding games, with the hero healthy, only the Houston Rockets shot 3s more times, but his percentage jumped to 35 percent, which is around the league average. In the playoffs, the Heats have the best performances in both worlds: .91.9% of their shots are 3s and they have scored .538.5% of them. Both marks are ranked fourth.
Miami will be hard to stop if the former Celtic Crowder continues shooting at 0.3 per cent effort per game. Opponents of Boston usually take 3s, but a lower percentage; In the second round, Toronto scored 30 percent or more of its four losses.
7. Can Hero continue it?
Hero has scored 40 percent of its 3s in Play 3, but that doesn’t tell the story. He’s making them in crunch time, he’s taking them away from the dribble and, more importantly, he’s gaining the confidence of coach Eric Sposaltra as a playmaker. In the seed game against the Phoenix Suns, he had 25 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds; In the spell against Bucks, he had 14 points, six assists and eight rebounds.
The Celtics, with an army of defenders on their wings, are Hero’s biggest challenge yet. I saw them trying to get out of it by putting smarts on them.
8. Can Boston defend without fouling?
Butler landed nine times in the game in the regular season and that number has reached 10.7 in the playoffs. Dragic and Adebayo can also wreak havoc in this way and the Heat leads the league in the free throw rate in the regular season (and is second in the playoffs). This is something to look at, especially since the Celtics were defensively 24th in the free throw rate and are physical both on the perimeter and in the paint.
While Boston is rude, the culprit is often Thais. Grant Williams, who closed the game against Toronto in the center, also prefers fouls from the inside. Which gives us …
9. What is the frontcourt rotation of the Celtics?
When de Debayo walked out of court, Kylie Olinick was taken in his place in Miami or left without a big man. In this regard, Boston can speculate less – if Stevens Vert also wants distance and shot-t-blocking, he can call Robert Williams; If he wants switchability and sound rotation, he can go with Grant Williams; If he wants abusive rebounding and post-up scoring, he can try the Ans Counter. I wouldn’t be too shocked to see Sammy Ogleye get a few minutes at 5pm against De Debayo.
This usually plays 25-30 minutes per game, but he scored 47 in double-overtime in Game 6. If Stevens invents an offensive punch, he can go with Robert Williams or Kanter when Thesis goes to the bench. They both leave Boston weak against Miami’s Peak-and-Rolls, however, I doubt there will be a chance here for Grant Williams or Ojley, both of whom are officially listed at 6-foot-6, “center”.
10. How will Miami match defensively?
If Heat prefers not to use a ton zone, here are a few small questions:
- If Hayward is getting started, where are Drake and Robinson hiding?
- How will they use Adebayo?
- How many switches will they do?
- Who protects Tatum?
Boston could bring Hayward off the bench, at least first, but if he starts (and is effective), then Miami might consider taking Robinson or Dragic off the starting lineup for Igudala. It makes sense to put Adebayo on the thesis as it can switch the walker’s ball screen and otherwise rotate as an auxiliary defender, but if Tatum is gone, Spoelstra can throw Adebayo on it.
After defending Giannis Antetok oun Nampo, Croder Tatum will be able to draw the assignment. Butler, however, may be more appropriate for him. These matchups don’t make much difference, however, Spoilstra should decide to switch everything.
