Celtics are than happy with Bam Adebayo taking fallaway jump shots off the catch. Three paint touches, Boston gets a corner three. That's what Stevens wants. Multiple paint touches on each trip. Boston's defense has done a good job taking away Miami's back-cuts. It comes at the expense of opening up shooters on occasion. Heat are going without a real center right now, so Time Lord is guarding Iguodala. Couple of early tweaks to the sub patterns from both teams. Kemba Walker has been really active so far. You can tell the days off has really benefited him. Boston isn’t doing much to contest Iguodala’s perimeter shots and he is hitting them. I would they are going to live him shooting compared to Dragic/Robinson. Heat lead 24-23 after one.
Jayson Tatum hasn't looked like himself at all. Looks a step slow on offense and all out of sorts. Quite the start from Tyler Herro as everything is going his way. Stevens has been begging for them to run to not have to play against set defense all series. The Celtics best offense has been going directly at Duncan Robinson with whoever he is guarding. Boston were getting great looks against the zone so far. They were not making the shots. With Smart having three fouls, no "Best Five" lineup for Boston to close this first half. Heat lead 50-44 at the half. As messy as that first half was, Boston is fortunate to be down just 6 points at the half with 11 turnovers.
If the Celtics were ever going to reverse their third quarter woes, this would be the game to do so. Like a lot of the first half, the second half begins with a turnover for Boston. Adebayo-Robinson DHO game is borderline unstoppable. I’m not sure how Boston can get the offense going, but it's not going to be with Marcus Smart shooting. Marcus Smart is up to 9 assists. 5 of them have come in the third quarter. Smart is doing a good job of driving the zone and finding shooters. Tatum was able to shake off that first half on his way to 16 points in the third quarter. Heat lead 77-76 after three.
Wonder if Tatum will go the rest of the way here? It was going to be hard to take him out. The Celtics really needed to put Marcus Smart on Tyler Herro at this point. It took too many possessions, but in the halfcourt, Boston has Kemba Walker hiding on Andre Iguodala now. Marcus Smart is on Goran Dragic and Jaylen Brown has Tyler Herro. Tyler Herro's shot-making has been the difference in the game. He was ridiculously good. Celtics needed to try attacking from the baseline more against the zone, especially when Miami has Dragic and Herro as the low corner guys. Offensive rebounds continued to haunt Boston throughout the night. Goran Dragic with the dagger off of a terrible decision to trap Andre Iguodala. The Celtics should be embarrassed with how they closed this game. Miami didn't even shoot well. They just played harder and took care of the ball. I hate to see the injury to Bam Adebayo- hope he can recover quickly for Game 5. Heat win 112-109. Lead series 3-1.
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