After a commanding Game 1 victory, the Boston Celtics got brought back down to earth in Game 2. The Miami Heat beat them at their own game, raining down three after three en route to a 111-101 victory.
Boston’s offense looked sluggish, and their defense failed to adjust to Miami’s new style of play. It was a brutal 48 minutes, but the Celtics are now focused on fixing their problems ahead of Game 3.
Here are three things you might have missed in Game 2.
1. Celtics fumble three-point defense
At this point in the game, Caleb Martin had shot 4/5 from three-point range.
What is this defense?
Derrick White rushes over to help guard the Tyler Herro-Bam Adebayo pick-and-roll, but Kristaps Porzingis stays in the play as well. Jayson Tatum sticks to his guy in the corner, and the result is Jaylen Brown covering two guys on the weak side.
Considering how hot the Heat were from distance, this seems like a pretty terrible game plan.
2. Heat nullified Kristaps Porzingis
This may have been the worst game Kristaps Porzingis has had all season. He finished the night with six points and shot 1/9 from the field and 0/4 from behind the three-point line.
Miami made life hard on Porzingis. As the Celtics were chased off the three-point line, they attempted to use Porzingis as their release valve, a common trend from this year.
But it didn’t work.
“I mean, they did good being physical,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Pushing catches higher. Making it difficult for us to take advantage of those switches. And as you said, that’s been something that has given us a different look on the offensive end. I think when you’re in situations like that, you have to fight for your spacing.
“So, on some of those, we weren’t spaced well. We didn’t hold the hold the seals well. So, just a little bit of everything. We got to be better [at] physically holding seals, make better passes, have better spacing. Just put us in a position to [get to] two-on-ones easier and have better execution.”
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
3. TD Garden HATES Caleb Martin
It’s rare that TD Garden hates a player enough to boo them every time they touch the ball. Kyrie Irving is the most obvious example. His history with the organization speaks for itself. The fans hate him.
That’s the treatment Martin got on Wednesday night.
After his hard hit on Jayson Tatum in Game 1, fans booed him every time he touched the ball. His response? Shooting 5/6 from behind the arc. Whenever Martin made a three, he made sure to let the crowd know about it, too, flashing three fingers in their direction.
At one point, TD Garden even started a brief chant that included some profanity followed by the words, “You Martin.”
Needless to say, Celtics fans aren’t Martin’s biggest fans at the moment.
