The Boston Celtics are heading to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010to take on the Golden State Warriors.
Before the playoffs started, the media was going crazy debating whether or not Boston should try to drop to the three seed in an effort to avoid the Brooklyn Nets. After being asked about if they had a strategy for the playoffs, coach Ime Udoka said the team was not “scared of anybody.”
The Celtics then went into the first round and swept the borough boys. Their next matchup was against the defending champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Boston won in seven.
Then for the fourth time in six years, the C’s were in the Eastern Conference Finals.
At first glance, the Miami Heat seemed to be a better matchup for Boston than Milwaukee. The C’s had just beat the best player on the planet, so how could they not beat a Miami Heat team with less offensive firepower than the Bucks?
Well, Miami was a challenging matchup for Boston as the series turned into a seven-game series after the first couple of games were blowout exchanges.
I noticed during the series that Boston wasn’t looking as sharp as they did the previous two rounds. They weren’t a team that was known to get blown out at home or on the road. For being a fundamentally sound team on both sides of the ball, something seemed off.
I am going to go over 3 things that the Boston Celtics struggled with against the Miami Heat that they must fix if they want to win the NBA Finals against a tough Golden State team: