Everyone was on the same page for the Boston Celtics' NBA Playoffs opener against the Miami Heat. Joe Mazzulla's squad showed no mercy and fired on all cylinders with Jayson Tatum leading the way through his first postseason triple-double. The ball moved through every member of the team very smoothly and their defensive execution was impeccable. Jrue Holiday, in particular, prevented Tyler Herro and the other opposing guards from popping off in this matchup.
Tyler Herro was limited to only knocking down four out of his 13 field goal attempts. He only managed to sink three of his shots from the three-point line too. All of this was thanks to Jrue Holiday. The Celtics guard locked up everyone who was assigned to him and any person who came across him on the switch. No one on the Heat was safe from his defensive wrath.
Jayson Tatum saw how much Jrue Holiday was pouring into his first Celtics NBA Playoffs game and had to give his flowers, via Noa Dalzell of SB Nation.
“Jrue does all the things that may not always show up on the stat sheet. Every single night, his presence, his ability to screen, always wants to guard the best player and take tendencies away. Jrue’s a champion,” the Celtics superstar declared.
Holiday was a Swiss army knife for the Celtics. Despite only going two for eight on his shots from the field for six points, his offensive arsenal allowed him to drop three assists. The Celtics star guard's knack for getting into good positions to box out also allowed him to snag seven rebounds.
The defense was where he shined the most. He jumped on every opportunity to contest shots and even got two blocks out of it. Whenever the Heat's main ball handler faced him, it was wraps. Holiday even snatched the ball twice for Joe Mazzulla's team.
Celtics obliterate the Heat
A big narrative that the Celtics had to face in the regular season was that they played down to their opponent's level. This NBA Playoffs win over the Heat dispelled that. The Jayson Tatum-led squad led for as much as 32 points. They had some mishaps in the middle of the fourth quarter but they still got the win with a 114 to 94 scoreline.
A huge factor in this victory was the Celtics' efficiency in shooting their three-pointers. The team's outside stroke was amazing. They got to shoot 44.9% from outside on 49 attempts which is delightful to see if you're Mazzulla. Another big edge that the Celtics had was how well they were crashing the boards. Their discipline in anticipating for the ball to go down got them 44 total rebounds. This was big compared to the Heat which were only able to rip 34 of them throughout the whole four quarters.
Defensively, everyone was active for the Celtics in this NBA Playoffs win. The Heat got the ball stolen from them six times in this matchup. If they did manage to get a shot up, someone from Mazzulla's squad would use their vertical leaping ability to swat the ball away. This gave the Celtics six blocks too.
Three more wins until this team exorcised their demons.
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