5 takeaways from Celtics' Game 5 win over Heat (2023)

boston- The Boston Celtics are halfway through their history.

Woke up Tuesday morning with Celtics trailing 3-0eastern finals.It's 3-2, the series returns to Miami, and Saturday should be an intense Game 6 (8:30 ET, TNT).

The defending champions of the Eastern Conference came out in Game 5, never trailing and (again) staying alive.110-97 winIt's not that close. Boston led by at least 15 points throughout the second half ... until Miami had four consecutive inactions.

Boston looks more like the No. 2 seed against the No. 8 seed after a stellar first three games. The Celtics are still trailing in this series, but the impossible seems more likely given how they've played the past two games.

"I think once we get together," Jaylen Brown said after Game 5, "we all look each other in the eye and say, hey, we're not going out like that."

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and footage from a game that made the Celtics the 15th team in NBA history (out of 151 contenders) to be forced into No. 6 after trailing 3-0 teams of the match.

1. So this is the No. 2 defensive team

They say defense wins championships. The Celtics played a championship-caliber defense by turning a 3-0 streak into a 3-2 streak. Game 4 was the Heat's least efficient offense in the playoffs (18 games total, including the AT&T playoff). And Game 5, if you subtract their nine elimination timing points, is almost as ineffective (87 points in 81 rounds).

Miami was without Gabe Vincent, who averaged 17.5 points on 58 percent shooting (including 11-of-22 3-pointers) through his first four games and sprained himself in the fourth quarter of Game 4. left ankle. But the Celtics are largely responsible for their opponent's struggles.

"The last two games they've had an increased level of activity," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, "which is what you should expect in a competitive playoff series." .”

In the first three games, the Celtics' defense was not bad. They played enough to force the Heat into a lot of late situations. In Game 4, Miami* shot 29 percent from the field in the final seven seconds of the shot clock.

* That's well above the highest regular-season percentage of any team (24% - Philadelphia) and more than double the Celtics' first four-game percentage (14%).

Game 5 was pretty much the same, plus a 3-point drop and a ton of turnovers. The Heat's 23 three-point attempts were their fourth-fewest in a single game this season and their fewest since the All-Star break. Their 16 turnovers were notmost of them in the playoffs, but their 13on-site veterinarianTurnovers (all in the first three quarters) are the second-highest in a single game this season (100 games total). Of course, live-ball double-teams created transition opportunities that made things easier for the Celtics' own offense.

The Celtics managed to put pressure on the perimeter without being exploited inside. The Heat ranked 25th in offense during the regular season, but they were never easy to defend.

"Those guys, they play with unbelievable speed," Brown said. "They play a bit like the Warriors. They run to the seats. They run to the screens. They find those bags. They move. You can't flash because they move and you lose a shooter to the 3, So you've got to be disciplined. You've got to stay awake, you've got to run after the boys because they're going to run away all night. You've got to have your running shoes on."

The Celtics are now 4-0 and averaging just 100.3 points when eliminated from these playoffs. 100 offenses in those four games. It's an elite defense...that doesn't exist when their season isn't there.

2. The Heat's second giant is vacant

The Heat have someone who can beat a great defense with a great offense. But Jimmy Butler had a quiet night, scoring just 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting (his lowest score in the playoffs). He was just 2-for-5 from the field and attempted just six free throws.

Butler quarantined just three times the following Thursday, according to Second Spectrum tracking.18.3 per game in the first four games.He kept attacking Derrick White, but White held his own and didn't become a matchup that had to be adjusted. …

"Our offense was a little disjointed," Spoelstra said when asked about Butler's lack of offense. "We couldn't initiate the offense and get the ball where we needed it to be, where you could operate. If we could get Jimmy to be more consistent in his comfort zone and power zone, we'd be fine."

Bam Adebayo failed to catch up, scoring just 16 points on 8-of-15 shooting. He's not a scorer like Butler was, getting a flurry of points from the catch and transition midway through the third quarter when the Heat scored six straight. But when Adebayo was asked to handle the ball, the Celtics attacked and committed six of the team's 16 turnovers.

"You have to give credit to them," Spoelstra said. "They've put us in the spotlight so many times, fast players, strippers, stuff like that. We've got to support that. It's two games in a row. We've got to be aggressive and then play the right game at the right distance.

3. Taking the Right Measurements, Part 2

Through the first four games, Brown has shot just 39 percent from the field, including 3-for-25 from 3-point range. And he didn't start Game 5 very well,first shot attempt1 of 4 shots in the first quarter. Fortunately for the Celtics, he turned things around after that, scoring 21 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field, matching a 3-pointer he made in the first 15 minutes of Game 5 (3-for-4). The sum of the games 1-4 is the same.

More importantly, Brown and Jayson Tatum continue to make good reads rather than bad shots. …

The Celtics have definitely worked harder on defense over the past two games of this series, but they've also figured out how to best attack Miami's defense.

"The last two games we got the upper hand very quickly," Boston coach Joe Mazula said. "Then it was two-on-one, and then we read two-on-one. If we played fast but organized, then we were at our best. good condition."

"You know exactly where to attack," Brown said. "You know exactly where you can take advantage of your matchup and level off some kind of aggression, and that's what Miami is trying to do. They really want to chase you on defense. They want to put you in a bad position. They're we're going to be very aggressive on the ball and once we take our time and watch the game patiently, the game starts to come down to us."

The result is more equal offense. Tatum is a good scorer, Brown can hit the ball hard, but the Celtics are at their best offensively when the ball is moving, the seams are being attacked and everyone looks good.

Tatum has 11 assists, which is tied for third in his career (532 games played). And he's creating more buckets, attacking the weak spots of Miami's defense, dropping the ball when he sees another defender...

Of course, it would help if other people took pictures. In Game 5, White and Marcus Smart combined to go 10-for-14 from 3-point range and each outscored their two best NBA teammates.

"It's a long series," Tatum said, "and you need different players to be good at different times in the series. That's why it's a team sport. You need everybody to be there at some point. Go strong, and Smart and D-White are "the reason we won tonight. These two guys, their shooting ability tonight, spread out and then defend. "

4. Good for both offenses

In Tatum's "Hockey Assist" above, the weak point is Miami defenseman Kevin Love. Sometimes it's Cody Zeller getting completely burned by Tatum in the pick-and-roll twice in a row (exist,unhappy) at the end of the first quarter. (Zeller can at least say he has something in common with Kia MVP Joel Embiid: In their last game, neither of them could contain Tatum.)

Other times, Duncan Robinson has a soft spot. Like almost every time he's on the court, what's the luckiest offense Robinson has ever been on the floor?

The Heat tried to hide Robinson in their zone, which they played for most of the second and fourth quarters. but even hethere is a problem, fouled five times in his 28 minutes.

Still, Robinson was strong offensively on Thursday, scoring 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. And just two of those seven field goals came from beyond the arc. As mentioned, the Celtics drove the Heat past the three-point line, but Robinson managed to score. he even did itAlong the reeds of Al HorfordQuarantine in the fourth quarter.

robinson hasscare the opponent's defenseSince the last time (2020) the Heat reached the Finals, with his movement and three-point shooting. But he shot 88 percent of his shots that year from beyond the arc and is developing into a more dual-threat player who can handle the ball and score inside the arc.

"Two or three years ago, everybody was very committed to getting him off the 3-point line," Spoelstra said before Game 5. "Anyway, he has to work differently to help our offense, which he always does."

5. The Dutch…

The Celtics were the better team in the regular season, and they've been the better team in the last two games. They're certainly capable of winning every game these two teams play, and they're likely toshouldWin every game played by these two teams.

It's only the third team in 27 seasons to rank in the top two on both ends of the floor. The other two -- the Warriors in 2014-15 and 2016-17 -- won championships. The Heat, meanwhile, have the lowest regular-season winning percentage among 151 best-of-seven series with a 3-0 lead.

in celticwere ableDo it... as long as they can put their foot on the gas.

A chance to make NBA history and reach the Finals should definitely be enough to keep them focused on another 96 minutes of basketball. Whenever their season comes up, their defense has been stellar.

But playing consistently hard has been a problem for the Celtics for most of the season, and bad habits can come back to bite you at the wrong time. Shouldn't games 1-3 of the conference finals be important enough to play that hard?

The Celtics are halfway through their history, but Miami's Game 6 should be the toughest of the four.

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John Schuhmann is a senior statistical analyst for NBA.com. you can email himshe, Look forHis archive is hereexistfollow him on twitter.

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