The only thing holding the Boston Celtics back from Banner 18 is their ability to keep everyone healthy. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can dominate the wings with their scoring. Meanwhile, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday can lock up anyone on the perimeter. Arguably, the most important piece of Joe Mazzulla's squad is the Kristaps Porzingis. However, It might look like he could be out of the rotation for a good portion of this Miami Heat NBA Playoffs clash.
An unfortunate sight
Kristaps Porzingis immediately called Joe Mazzulla for a substitution and hobbled straight to the Celtics bench, per Jay King of The Athletic. However, he did try to walk it off in hopes of trying to get back to this NBA Playoffs game against the Heat. It was diagnosed to be right calf tightness but the Celtics might want to sit him out given his injury history. He will also undergo imaging to further assess the types of treatment that are needed for him to recover.
The Celtics involve Kristaps Porzingis in a lot of their schemes. Whether it's Joe Mazzulla's dribble hand-offs, popping off pick-and-rolls, setting rip screens, or just simply attacking the rim, he has been that guy. Moreover, his ability to contain Bam Adebayo in this NBA Playoffs series has been unmatched. The Heat big man has been forced to be creative off the post. He even needed to shoot some mid-range shots which are not his expertise.
Throughout this NBA Playoffs run, the Celtics big man has been on the floor a lot. He plays an average of 30.7 minutes on a nightly basis. This still allows him to sink 41.9% of his attempts from all three levels of scoring to notch 14 points. The cherry on top is that his outside has been a zone-buster. His shots from that area find the bottom of the net 41.2% of the time. The production he gives in the long-term could be more important than having him pour his heart out against a short-handed Heat team. It might be best to call it a night and have him rest.
Celtics' dominance over the Heat so far
A lot of the schemes that Coach Joe Mazzulla runs go through the guards. This is a vastly different variation of the wing-centric offense that the Celtics execute. It is designed to make guys like Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Haywood Highsmith work extra on defense. This is such that they are famished on the other side of the floor. It has been incredibly effective.
They have limited the Heat offense to a meager 36.2% field goal percentage. This is despite the home team attempting 69 shots which is three more than what the Celtics have so far. The fact that they have only allowed Erik Spoelstra's team to knock down a poor 24% from way out also says a lot. To add more to the domination, the battle of the boards is also lopsided. The Celtics have 41 rebounds to their opponents who have only had a horrid 30.
There is still a lot of basketball left to play in this NBA Playoffs matchup. But, it looks like it might be done after the third quarter when the Celtics went up 81 to 59.
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