Substance over style: small ball, double bigs, and everything in between is an option for Boston

What did the Celtics change after a surprising loss to the Heat in Game 2? Not much. Sure, they tightened up a few things here and there. It’s the postseason after all and that calls for more intesity and focus. After finishing fourth in opponent three-point percentage in the regular season, they cleaned up their closeouts on the perimeter and allowed fewer triples in the ensuing Games 3, 4, and 5 combined.

Offensively, they took to task the league’s fifth best defense and blew them out in all their wins. They continued to punish mismatches, kept their turnovers down, and yes, shot a ton of threes. That’s generally been their M.O.

But as they say, the NBA Playoffs are all about adjustments and adjustments to those adjustments and there may be a bigger reckoning of sorts heading in to Round 2 and (knocks on wood) beyond.

And the Celtics will be ready.

“One of the things coming into the season was being able to win in different ways with different lineups,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after eliminating the Heat in Game 5. “Even when KP was healthy, we still played small. We did a bunch of different stuff. We played double bigs. We just have to develop a bunch of different identities to be able to get into different playoff series when you have different matchups. We’ve been able to do that because the guys [have] an attention to detail and their buy-in towards making the most sense, doing whatever it takes to win that particular game and having different identities.”

Beating a banged up Heat team with your strengths is one thing, but playing outside of your comfort zone and winning four games is another.

Whether it’s the Cavaliers or Magic, both potential opponents are big with frontcourts of Jarrett Allen (6’9) and Evan Mobley (6’11) or Franz Wagner (6’10), Paolo Banchero (6’10), and Wendell Carter Jr. (6’10). In many of Boston’s losses, opposing teams have been able to slow the Celtics down and crash the offensive glass.

With Kristaps Porzingis out for most likely the entire series, Boston could lean heavily on playing faster and quicker in an attempt to create space. Much has been made on how Luke Kornet and/or Xavier Tillman Sr. will fill in minutes for KP, but Mazzulla could easily flip the script and play Oshae Brissett or Jaden Springer as the eighth man off the bench in an effort to speed up and space out the game.

On the other side of the Eastern Conference bracket, the winner of Knicks-Pacers will pose a different problem and the gears will have to switch again. Assuming the Celtics advance and Porzingis returns by the conference finals, they’ll be up against either guard-heavy team. Again, that could call for another costume change for the Cs. Boston leaned heavily into their defensive strengths against Miami and they’ll need that even more vs. Tyrese Haliburton or Jalen Brunson. Could the Celtics play double bigs to shore up their rim protection? Could Mazzulla elect to match size and speed and play more three guard lineups? We’ll see.

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Further down the road, it’s hard not to daydream what a potential Finals could look liike against two titans who have already started their second round series. The Nuggets and Timberwolves are big and bigger and just as loaded with talent.

In a way, think of Denver and Minnesota as some amalgamation of the remaining East teams. Picture the Magic with Brunson or Haliburton at the controls in Cleveland. That’s Jamal Murray backed up by Jokic, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. or KAT and Gobert fronted by Anthony Edwards. In the quest for another Larry O’Brien, Boston’s identity change may require a phone booth and a cape.