3 things the Boston Celtics must improve upon in order to win NBA Finals

Boston Celtics adjustment No. 1) Better ball security

The Boston Celtics’ offense has been one of the best in the league since January. A reason for that is that they were so selfless, playing less iso-ball and more team ball with an emphasis on assists, averaging 25 per game.

Towards the beginning of the playoffs, Boston kept the trend going with 25 assists per game in the first two rounds against Brooklyn and Milwaukee.

With more assists came fewer turnovers, as they only averaged 13 per game in the first two rounds. Part of this was due to their great ball movement, but another part of this was Marcus Smart being completely healthy (pre ankle injury).

With the facilitator out there, it took the ball out of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s hands as the primary ball-handler.

Against the Heat, Smart wasn’t always 100 percent healthy. Now, granted, no one is this far in the playoffs, but this caused JT and JB to handle the ball a little more.

Both, especially Brown, struggled in this role and it resulted in some lackluster turnovers. In the Conference Finals against the Heat, Boston only averaged 23 assists and, while two fewer turnovers don’t seem like such a drastic difference, it resulted in an increase of turnovers with 15 per game.

Maybe, however, it wasn’t the injury to Smart that made that much of a difference. Miami had the fourth-best defense in the league and Milwaukee only had the 14th, while Brooklyn ranked 20th.

If that’s the case, Boston has a tough matchup with Golden State being the second-best defense in the league.