The Celtics had a clear agenda entering Game 3 against the Heat on Saturday night, which included taking away opportunities that led to Miami’s franchise-best shooting night in Game 2.
“No dare shots,” Jaylen Brown explained. “Respecting those guys capability, they are NBA players and they can make shots on any given night so treating them accordingly, closing out, just making them uncomfortable.”
Boston’s gameplan with some added urgency from the players seemingly worked well on that front. Miami opened the game shooting 3-of-17 from the field and mustered just 12 first quarter points. Miami’s 3-point attempts were trimmed down considerably amid the ugly start.
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“We didn’t overhelp,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We respected more those guys that shot the ball really well in game two. And just better close outs and making them work for each basket more. Not having them letting shoot all these shots. And that makes a huge difference. They had to get in and then another action, another action that we just getting kept getting stops. So, this is what we’re going to do going forward. So, yeah, we had to we had to respect them as a team 100 percent.”
However, Heat star Bam Adebayo had a terrific take on Miami’s 3-point woes in Game 3. He looked at his teammates for the shooting struggles rather than any adjustments Boston made on the perimeter.
“I feel like a lot of guys passed up open shots that they should’ve shot,” Adebayo told reporters in Miami. “That didn’t happen in game 2, guys were letting it fly.”
The Heat center also ripped the team’s offensive effort after a dismal 84 point showing.
“We just made mistake after mistake on offense. Not communicating, throwing the ball away. Turnovers that shouldn’t happen in the playoffs.”
Whether a subpar Heat offense can regroup in Game 4 on Monday night will signal whether Adebayo has a point with his tough takes on his teammates. Jayson Tatum thinks the Celtics maintaining their physicality will ultimately be the factor that can keep Miami at bay.
“Everybody knows how talented we are,” Tatum said. “Can we be the tougher, harder playing team? When you combine that with our talent level, I think it’s going to be hard to beat us. But can we start off every game essentially punching first and not reacting? That’s the test for us that we have to get up for every single game.”
