Rookie Tyler Herro posted a career-high 37 points on 14-21 shooting as the Miami Heat took a commanding 3-1 series lead Wednesday in the Eastern Conference Finals over the Boston Celtics.
Welcome to the world Gordon Hayward Jr (or Deuce #2 I guess?). Besides the talk of Gordon Hayward’s firstborn son, the next conversation surrounding game four was how the Boston Celtics would match up with the Heat to start.
After Brad Stevens made a Game 3 adjustment–putting Kemba Walker on Jae Crowder freeing up Marcus Smart to guard Goran Dragic–Crowder said prior to game four there would be adjustments made if the Celtics attempted the same strategy. That adjustment was Tyler Herro.
The Celtics came out defensively just as they had in game three, but it was the offense from Walker that was the story early. Nine quick first-quarter points from the point guard kept Boston from falling behind as Jayson Tatum struggled, going scoreless (0-5) after one quarter. The fairly new defensive look seemed to work well as Crowder and Dragic shot a combined 2-8 (1-4 from 3-point line).
Miami’s not-so-secret weapon in Herro was the story of the first half (and later the game). The rookie had seven of the first nine Heat points to begin the second quarter, increasing the Miami lead to five before a frustrated Stevens called a timeout. Herro ended the first half with a game-high 15 points as the Heat took a 50-44 lead into the break. Oh, and the halftime under-hit if you’re into that sort of thing.
Going into the half, the Boston Celtics looked rusty. That’s expected after a four-day layoff, but Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals isn’t an ideal time to be rusty. The biggest surprise in the first half was Tatum, who may have had his worst offensive first half in a Celtics uniform: 0-6, three assists, and three turnovers.
The only time all season Tatum was held scoreless in the first half. The ESPN announcers were hinting at injuries the entire half and intermission report, but judging by his second-half numbers, it seemed he was just fine health-wise. Whether it was injury or just pure laziness, Tatum was the worst player on the court in the first half.
Miami started the second half as they did the first. Zone defense, and daring the Boston Celtics to shoot. When you start the game shooting 5-18 in the first half from beyond the arc, teams will tend to allow you to continue to shoot. Mistakes on the defensive end killed the Celtics early as well.
A second-quarter four-point play from Dragic, and a needless foul on Duncan Robinson shooting a 3-ball were really all you needed to see to understand the breakdowns Boston had defensively. Add in four consecutive offensive rebounds by Miami on an early third-quarter possession, and the Celtics looked straight up flat.
Tatum hit his first shot with 6:46 remaining in the third quarter- A 3-ball to cut the lead to seven, followed by a quick Heat timeout. The three seemed to get him going as after a quick Miami bucket he hit another on the next C’s possession. Those buckets seemed to get “0” on an absolute tear. A mid-range jumper, two consecutive and-ones, and another mid-range two with less than five seconds remaining brought his quarter and game total to 16. Going into the fourth the Boston Celtics trailed 77-76.
On the Heat side, Herro continued to light up the stat sheet. The rookie had 30 points on 12-17 shooting off the bench midway through the fourth quarter as the Heat attempted to hold on to both the game and series lead.
With under a minute to play, Herro hit what many thought at the time was the dagger. A two-point jumper putting the Heat up by nine. After a three, a steal, and another three, there was life for the Celtics. The team played shoot-and-foul for the remaining 16 seconds and eventually two Jimmy Butler free throws with 1.3 seconds left sealed it. Just like that, Boston finds themselves 3-1.
For the Heat, the leading scorer of the game Herro finished with 37 points on 14-21 shooting. Adebayo, Butler, and Dragic all scored 20+ points. Take away those four players and the rest of the Heat team had a combined 9 points on 2-18 shooting.
For Boston, Tatum led the Celtics with 28 points, all coming in the second half. Brown finished with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Walker finished with 20 points. Hayward chipped in with 14, 7, and 3 off the bench. Smart, who had been a key player in the series, finished 3-12 including 1-8 from beyond the arc and fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
Final thoughts:
The zone defense killed the Celtics. It is as simple as a defense as it comes in the NBA. It’s what most high school teams run, especially those who only have 7-8 kids who play. It’s simple but effective. It becomes extremely effective when players can’t make outside shots. The Boston Celtics started off 5-23 from beyond the arc and stayed pretty flat outside of a few 30-second stretches.
To beat this zone defense, Boston needs to start attacking. Miami defenders played cornerback all night, reading the defense. The Celtics are a pass-first team when they drive to the hoop. If they want to come back, they need to think score-first. Any chance of a comeback will take the team playing smarter and harder offensively. Players were out of position and not finding the right reads. Add on the awful shooting night, and you find yourself in a 3-1 hole.
Putting Smart on Dragic worked…until Tyler Herro came in and started dominating the odd-man-out. Miami is always going to have someone that is a mismatch when guarded by Kemba Walker. Boston needs to find their own mismatches on the other end and maybe just bite the bullet on Dragic, who still ended up with 22 points.
Finally, Boston ran into a team that plays 100% on every possession. Usually, Boston is the one who wins the hustle battle. They haven’t so far this series. Along with that, the Cs usually have the coaching advantage, but Eric Spoelstra is widely considered the best coach in the league. Saying Stevens is getting out-coached isn’t a knock on Stevens, but it is something that is very apparent.
The Boston Celtics are getting out-worked, out-hustled, and out-coached. They still have the talent advantage and ultimately could still out-hustle the Heat. The nail isn’t in the coffin yet, but the Celtics will need to break out all the tools in order to keep their season alive.