After facing the Miami Heat in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years, it'd be understandable if the Boston Celtics were sick of their South Beach rivals. However, Celtics star Jayson Tatum thought matching up with them in the first round was for the best.
And that's not just because the C's easily defeated the Heat in five games following a 118-84 beatdown in Game 5 on Wednesday night. In his postgame presser, Tatum explained his reasoning.
“I just had my mind made up completely that we were gonna play Miami. And I wanted to play Miami in a sense that, last year playing against Atlanta we might’ve relaxed a little bit. But knowing the history with Miami, and how hard they play and how well-coached they are that, for a first-round matchup, regardless of the seed, we were gonna have to be ready to play and be ready to fight,” Tatum said.
Last postseason, the Celtics held the No. 2 seed and got to play the middling Atlanta Hawks. Boston was heavily favored, yet the first-round series went all the way to six games and demonstrated that the Green Team was vulnerable.
This year, it looked like a similar situation might unfold. The Celtics were shocked at home in Game 2 when the Heat hit an insane 23 triples en route to a 111-101 upset victory. This Miami squad was undermanned and without star Jimmy Butler, so seeing the C's already drop a game at home was a bit alarming.
Perhaps this was the perfect wake-up call, as Boston didn't mess around any further. The Celtics traveled to Miami and won both contests and then returned to Beantown to close out the series. In each one of those three wins, Boston dominated by double digits and held the Heat to under 90 points.
“We did our job,” Tatum said. “We took care of business and played the way we’re supposed to. We got it done.”
Whenever Miami tried to fight back in Game 5, the Celtics had an answer. Tatum finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds in 32 minutes of play and never looked overwhelmed by the Heat's countless double teams.
His calm under pressure is a sign of growth, and Tatum argued that this first-round series as a whole showed the Celtics' maturity.
“We should be learning from our mistakes and learning from things that we could have done better and applying it to the next season, which we are doing this year,” he stated. “Because we’re trying to have a different outcome from what we had last year.”
It was far from the 26-year-old's best playoff series, but he did enough to win and get his teammates open shots. The Celtic who benefitted from that the most was likely guard Derrick White.
“Whenever they were trying to take away from other guys, that allowed him to free himself up and be aggressive and in attack mode throughout the series,” Tatum said after White recorded 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting. “Making the right play, shooting the ball extremely well, playing well on defense, as he always does. He’s in such a good flow and rhythm right now and hopefully he continues to stay that way.”
What's next for Jayson Tatum and the Celtics?
With Miami out of the way, Jayson Tatum and company will either play the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Orlando Magic in the second round.
The C's won the season series against both of these teams, but there were no sweeps, as the Cavs won their last game against Boston in March and the Magic prevailed in the first matchup back in November.
Right now, Cleveland holds a crucial 3-2 lead in the series. Game 6 will be in Orlando though, which could matter since neither team has won on the road yet. No matter who advances, the C's will square off against a tough defense and an opponent who's eager to play spoiler.
As for Tatum, he'll probably have to play even better in the second round with center Kristaps Porzingis likely sidelined for the next week or so. The margin for error will be slim for the Celtics, however, this'll be another chance for them to prove that they've grown and learned from past playoff letdowns.
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