For the Boston Celtics, the first part of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals was a tractor bridge. In the first quarter they hit 25% of the field. Coming on a simple pick-and-pop with Jason Tatum, Kemba Vaker sent a pass to assistant coach Scott Morrison on the bench. On offense, the ball was not moving, the drivers were stuck in a neutral way, and the Celtics were in slow loose balls. But it wasn’t just the lack of rhythm or execution; Boston looked like a team broken by frustration.
Over the next three quarters, the Celtics recreated part of their soul by piece. He got instant crime healthy service from the reserved big man Anne County. Jalen Brown set the tone aggressively. Bost began to protect the basketball. After halftime, Bost accelerated the defensive pressure. Tatum started attacking the paint and drew fouls on demand. The offense exploited the center of Miami Heat’s zone defense.
When Game 5 was over, the Celtics woke up from their slumber, shortening the Heat series lead to 3-2 at the end of 121-108.
“We knew in the first half that we were playing with a lot of energy, but it was kind of all over the place,” Brown said. “And we just had to dial it in. We had the right mindset from the start of the game, but it was a little bit all over the place. Once we settled down a bit and maintained the same intensity, it would work. Us.”
After the initial swing, each member of the Celtics rotation played their part in the specification. Tatum and Brown led the way, opportunistic on the drive and quick to free from distance. Marcus Smart showed his first-team All-NBA Defensive Bonafides at the top of the floor, and drew SoF with a hypocritical pass in half-court. Gordon Hayward was not exceptionally sharp, but the glamor of the next playmaking point with a full toolbox revealed itself in the second half. Kanter imprinted his Moses Malone. And after becoming an early liability, Center Daniel Thesis helped bust the zone and dominated the offensive glass.
Both Thesis and Kanter were also critical in helping the unlock point guard Waker, who played the brand of basketball of choice he chose, despite an incredible state line (4-for-11 shooting and 15 points on 15 assists) and the wrong difficulty. Vaker Kar is a pick and roll virtuoso that builds defenses when working with confidence out of action. But in the bubble, Waker never got his game. He came to resume nursing knee pain. In the conference semifinals, he was the target of the Toronto Raptors’ B-box-and-one zone. And zone it to heat. Faced with such a dilemma against the zone plan, he never found a way to show the steps of his dance.
On Friday night, he finally got a chance to sneak up the screen and hide behind his big man to find a place to launch from outside the arc. His third-quarter influence was Tatum’s second in the Celtics conflict from potential existence to existence.
“We were just aggressive, really feeding each other’s strength,” Waker said. “We’re just that. We were encouraging each other there … really enjoying the game.”
Like Waker Kar, Tatum came into Game 5 with a view to release. His scoreless first half in Game 4 was a matter of confusion, and after the second forgettable first half Friday, he found the offense on the floor in the third quarter. He connected to a couple from a long distance but stopped most of his damage with a dribble, drawing fools willingly against Miami. Heat simply cannot contain Tatum without being hacked in half court. He controlled the pace of the game, frustrated the heat defense that cordoned off most of the lanes of the series and allowed the Celtics’ defense to be set on the next cargo.
Brown did his usual damage in half court and in transition. As is often the case, Brown found his crime in the stream, where he found opportunities. He was also the first Celtics starter to challenge heat defense by shaking the drums in the first half.
During the difficulty of the second half, coach Brad Stevens told his team that, for the first time in many games, they were playing Celtics basketball. Perhaps this was clear to anyone who watched the final series of the convention, a powerful statement about how the Celtics’ recent efforts departed from their ideal self and Boston’s potential two – the road monster when the player is confident and aggressive.
“It’s okay, we didn’t play the whole series the way we should,” Thisse said. “We didn’t play our defense, we made adjustments and went back to our system the way we played all year. Everyone felt comfortable in our system. You could say that in the third quarter everyone was having fun getting out of there. “
If the Celtics could sustain what they found in Game 5 for 5 more games, that statement could be a prediction.
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