Boston Celtics: 5 key takeaways from Tuesday’s loss to Miami

After Saturday’s exhilarating victory against the Portland Trailblazers, the Boston Celtics seemed out of sync during Tuesday’s 112-106 loss to the Miami Heat. 

And just like that, after attaining a solid victory against the Portland Trailblazers this past Sunday, the preseason struggles that haunted the Boston Celtics managed to resurface.

The Miami Heat, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, entered yesterday’s game against the Boston Celtics with a one and one bubble record, after a decisive win against the short-staffed Denver Nuggets and a close loss against the rising Toronto Raptors.

The Cs were favored heading into last night’s game as Miami was also without All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler due to right ankle soreness. Kelly Olynyk started in place of Butler as Olynyk gave the Heat added floor spacing on an already elite, league-leading three-point shooting team.

For the Celtics, Kemba Walker, who was previously on a tighter minutes restriction, saw a seven-minute bump during Tuesday’s loss.

While a Boston vs. Miami playoff series would be a fun watch, the seeding math likely indicates that the two squads wouldn’t face each other until the Eastern Conference Finals, should they make it so far.

That said, the Heat are an interesting puzzle for the Boston Celtics to figure out. They seemingly have an answer for everything and no glaring weaknesses. Interestingly enough, their two best players, Bam Adebayo and Butler, happen to be their best playmakers but possibly worst three-point shooters.

With Butler out and Olynyk filling in, the Heat’s already elite floor spacing was on full display.

On the defensive side of the floor, despite their lack of high-end rim protection, this year the Heat implemented a similar defensive strategy to that of the Milwaukee Bucks with an emphasis on rim denial (fourth-best at limiting attempts at the rim) and a willingness to give up the longball (second highest in opposing three-point attempts).

This strategy worked well during Tuesday’s victory as the Celtics, notably Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward, struggled to convert from beyond the arc.

So what were some takeaways from Tuesday’s disappointing loss to the Miami Heat?

1. Small-ball units struggled

The Celtics experimented with two different small-ball lineups during the second quarter. The first unit was a more defensively oriented squad as it featured Brad Wanamaker, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, and Semi Ojeleye.

This lineup was a disappointing minus-three during three minutes of play.

The Boston Celtics’ offensive death lineup with Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Brown, Tatum, and Hayward made up the second small ball experiment. This unit was also a lackluster minus six in three minutes of play as they struggled to close out the second quarter.

The Heat seemed aware of this size deficiency and exploited it. Adebayo got to the free-throw line ten times during the first half and 18 times during the entire game.

In particular, Smart struggled to guard Adebayo in the post as Smart picked up four fouls before halftime and fouled out at the 3:46 mark in the third quarter. While Adebayo is a rising star in this league and perhaps a runner up for Most Improved Player of the Year Award, the Cs seemed perplexed trying to figure out how to guard him.

Given the lack of athletic Celtic big men, Robert Williams may have been a more plausible matchup against Adebayo.

2) Sometimes it’s as simple as going one on one

While the Boston Celtics didn’t give up until the very end, they struggled from three-point range shooting only 30 percent from beyond the arc.

Still, on the bright side, their ability to create in isolation was apparent, especially when exploiting the many mismatches on the Heat.

Brad Stevens and the coaching staff seemed willing to let the likes of Brown, Tatum, and Hayward go at the weak defenders such as Olynyk, Duncan Robinson, and Kendrick Nunn. Both Hayward and Brown got the majority of their points at the rim, as it was nice to see Boston’s wings in full attack mode and not just settling for the first open shot.

3) Fouling issues

With 26 fouls called on the Boston Celtics compared to 19 for the Miami Heat, it was safe to say that the shamrocks did not get the whistle. Notably, they struggled with their fouls in the paint as the Heat took 12 more free throws.

It wasn’t only the number of fouls, but also how early these fouls took place. Smart fouled out very early in the game, but also Tatum received his fifth personal foul late in the third quarter as this presumably caused him to miss a large chunk of the fourth quarter.

While he only saw around four minutes during the game’s final stretch, Boston could have experimented more with Romeo Langford, given his already solid on-ball defensive ability. During the last preseason bubble game, Langford played an impressive 32 minutes against a foul-hunting Houston Rockets and only ended up with one foul on the night, a very impressive feat considering he’s still a rookie.

The fouling issues, especially when the Celtics went small, was a concerning sign to keep tabs on as we finish out the seeding games.

4) Floor spacers gave the Celtics fits

After a rough first quarter, Brad Stevens mentioned the issue of staying with Miami’s shooters. The Boston Celtics were late to close-outs as the Heat were moving the ball with ease and, in turn, finding the open shot.

From distance, the Heat shot well below their average of 39 percent as they only made 15 of their three-pointers on 43 total attempts.

It seemed as if the Heat got every shot they wanted from long range as the Celtics even got lucky with a few wide-open misses.

While this Cs squad played the math game with certain shooters such as Andre Iguodala, allowing him to shoot the open three, there were many blown assignments on the perimeter, leading to wide-open three-pointers.

Boston forgot about Duncan Robinson in the corner as he splashed two corner three-pointers to ice the game.

5) The Enes Kanter Dilemma

Enes Kanter came into yesterday’s game hot with three quick offensive rebounds. Despite only playing 15 minutes, Kanter scored ten points on five-of-six shooting and grabbed five offensive rebounds.

While his stat-line looked great on paper and was even one of the few positive Celtics in the plus/minus category, the Heat were deliberate when attacking him in the pick and roll. While Goran Dragic, in particular, hit two difficult isolation shots over Kanter, it seemed as if Miami wanted to play Kanter off the floor.

To his credit, we should acknowledge that Kanter has improved his ability to protect the rim this season. He never ranked above the 40th percentile in block percentage throughout his career, but this season, he ranked in the 65th percentile.

Kanter has always been a mysterious player, and the Boston Celtics may have to rely on him to log heavy minutes if they square up against the 76ers. It will be a curious case study to track Kanter’s minutes as the Cs head into the playoffs.

Today, Boston plays their first back-to-back game since March 4th against the very unrecognizable Brooklyn Nets. While locking up the third seed is crucial for the Celtics, they may use this next matchup against the Nets as more of a minute allocation experiment type of game.