During his conference call with reporters on Monday, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens spoke about the difficulty of guarding Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo.
Adebayo, who blocked Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum's game-winning dunk attempt in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, has been putting up superstar numbers thus far in the Eastern Conference Finals series.
Stevens said the Heat's shooters are part of the reason why it's so hard to defend Adebayo.
“It's a really hard thing to guard,” Brad Stevens told Celtics reporters about stopping Bam Adebayo, via Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports.
“Do you stay with him or do you stay with a shooter? Those guys come off screens 100 miles per hour. Both Bam and Kelly (Olynyk) are great handoff players and great with the fake. It's really difficult.”
Through the first three games of the Celtics-Heat series, Adebayo is averaging 22.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 38.6 minutes. He's also shooting 59.5 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from beyond the arc.
The Celtics-Heat series continues on Wednesday at Walt Disney World. Boston is down 2-1, but the team may have some momentum after winning Game 3 by 11 points.
Even though the Celtics won Game 3, they still didn't have an answer for Adebayo, who finished with a monster stat line of 27 points, 16 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
For Boston to win Game 4 and ultimately the series, Stevens and his coaching staff must find a way to limit Adebayo moving forward, which is easier said than done since Bam is one of the best players in the entire NBA.
Follow Us
Subscribe