10 takeaways from the Heat outpacing and outshooting the Celtics

#1 – Boston drop coverage

The first eight points from the Miami Heat were generated from pick-and-roll actions involving Luke Kornet. His defensive assignment was to stay low after the screen, giving Tyler Herro space to either gain speed to drive or pull up for a mid-range shot.

While the analytical approach made sense—since long mid-range shots are the least efficient type—leaving one of the best shooters in the league free to get to his spot so easily can be problematic. Miami’s offense generated a lot of shots in the short mid-range and was highly accurate from this zone (56% field goal on 27 attempts).

From these actions, Herro also drew fouls as the defense collapsed on him when he entered the paint, giving the Heat easy points. Overall, the Heat drew 13 shooting fouls—far more than the Celtics’ four.

When the Heat ball-handlers weren’t shooting or drawing fouls to punish the drop coverage, they could also turn to Bam Adebayo’s mid-range game. The pick-and-pop is a great alternative to beat drop coverage.

Later in the game, the Celtics decided to change their pick-and-roll coverage to put more pressure on the ball handler, but Adebayo is such a good connector that the Heat offense still functioned well out of these actions.

Overall, without Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics had a hard time containing Miami’s pick-and-roll actions involving Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo.

#2 – Luke Kornet early impact

With both Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis sitting out, Luke Kornet was the most impactful Celtic at the start of the game. With his strong screens creating a lot of space for the ball handler, Kornet was able to generate quality offense and finish at the rim.

His usual two-man game in the pick-and-roll with Jayson Tatum is known to be deadly, but recently there has also been more emphasis on his pick-and-roll synergy with Derrick White.

The Celtics’ depth at the ball-handler position is impressive, and it’s great to see them developing Kornet’s chemistry beyond just Tatum.

Alongside his 10 points in seven minutes, Kornet was again crucial in extending Celtics possessions with two offensive rebounds. Funny enough, he finished the game with only offensive rebounds—six in total. In this 21-point loss, Kornet had a +3 plus/minus, and the Celtics looked at their best when he was on the floor.

#3 – Boston small-ball struggle

Despite the strong performances with Kornet on the court, the Celtics ended the second quarter and began the third with a small-ball lineup. Joe Mazzulla opted to use Torrey Craig to space the floor on offense and switch everything on defense. However, without Kornet, the defense fell apart.

To start the third quarter, the Miami Heat piled up shots at the rim. Within three minutes, they scored four baskets at the rim and earned three free throws. By the time Kornet was reinserted, the score was 73–52.

The small-ball experiment against Miami’s twin towers was bold, but the lack of preparation was obvious—Heat players should not have had such easy access to the rim.

#4 – Jaylen Brown looking good in the post-up

Most of the Celtics struggled offensively last night. Jayson Tatum made only four of 17 shots, Sam Hauser struggled to get open and had just five attempts in 25 minutes, and Derrick White turned the ball over far more than usual. Still, there was a silver lining: Jaylen Brown’s post-up offense.

His gravity on these actions provides a lot of value. When he posts up on an empty side, the defense is forced to adjust. In the example below, Miami’s defensive shell collapses with four players dragged into the paint, leaving Jayson Tatum open from three.

The Celtics’ coaching staff also designed great plays to give Brown advantageous positions against weaker defenders. In the play below, a screen from Hauser allows Brown to switch from Bam Adebayo to Tyler Herro—a profitable trade for JB.

Once he got position to dominate Herro, Tatum just had to pass him the rock and watch JB do the rest.

Among the 27 players with more than two post-up actions per game, Jaylen Brown ranks 10th in efficiency. He is among the elite this season on these plays.

#5 – Best offensive rebound performance of the season

Another positive takeaway from this game was the Celtics’ ability to dominate the offensive glass. Per Cleaning the Glass, they extended possessions on 43% of their missed shots. Even better: in half-court possessions only, the Celtics grabbed an offensive rebound on 51% of their misses. No other NBA team has done better on the offensive boards this season.

From these putback opportunities, the Celtics averaged 1.36 points per possession—well above their 0.94 points per possession in half-court sets. However, this aggressiveness came with a defensive cost: Miami had more open looks in transition—but we’ll get back to that.

#6 – Boston usual turnover rate

The Celtics struggled to take care of the ball—credit to Miami’s defense for that. Led by Bam Adebayo, the Heat applied pressure on Celtics ball-handlers and off-ball players as soon as the ball was live.

The Heat featured many strong defenders—Davion Mitchell, Kyle Anderson, Kel’el Ware, and the surprising Pelle Larsson. Combined with Erik Spoelstra’s defensive scheme, which mixed zone with aggressive man-to-man coverage, Miami forced many turnovers… and those transitions crushed the Celtics.

#7 – Miami transition offense

The last two takeaways lead directly to this one. Transition defense has been an ongoing theme for Boston this season. While they started slowly in that area—despite being one of the best transition defenses last year—the Celtics ramped up over the course of the season and returned to the top of the rankings, allowing just 1.16 points per transition shot attempt. But last night was different.

On transition shot attempts, the Miami Heat scored an absurd 2 points per possession (!!). While shooting luck played a part, this also showed how much Miami was willing to run and pressure a Celtics defense that looked more fragile than usual. In the play below, for example, you can see the Celtics weren’t ready to match the pace as the Heat looked for a two-for-one opportunity to close the quarter.

Miami is far less talented than Boston, but they brought more energy and executed their game plan perfectly. They came ready to outrun the Celtics because they knew they couldn’t out-talent them.

#8 – Miami was too hot from three

Miami did a great job rotating and pressuring the Celtics’ ball-handlers, which may have contributed to Boston’s poor shooting from three. Meanwhile, Miami was on fire.

While Boston made only 12 of 43 threes, it took just 30 attempts for the Heat to convert 14 triples. Some of those shots were ones the Celtics were willing to give up to protect the paint—but sometimes teams shoot better than expected.

On that topic, I came across an interesting stat from Owen Phillips: the Celtics have had a top-five three-point defense in 16 of the last 18 NBA seasons. No other team has more than six such finishes during that time.

Feeling lucky?

#9 – Kyle Anderson punishing Joe mind trick

A few weeks ago, OKC coach Mark Daigneault said Joe Mazzulla was great at playing mind tricks with defensive matchup alignments. Last night, Mazzulla went back to it—putting Neemias Queta on Kyle Anderson in the fourth quarter. The idea was to ignore Anderson off-ball, punishing his lack of shooting and slow movement. But the Heat flipped that against Boston by giving Anderson the ball and letting him attack Queta one-on-one.

There’s no doubt Mazzulla will continue to experiment with these kinds of matchups. That’s fine—even when it doesn’t work. These “mind tricks” often disrupt the opposing offense, but sometimes, teams still manage to take advantage.

#10 – One quote to sum it up

Sometimes, a game can be summed up in one sentence — and Joe Mazzulla nailed it last night: