The Boston Celtics will open their playoff series against the Heat on Sunday.
The Boston Celtics’ path to the NBA Finals begins today. A repeat of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals sees Joe Mazzulla’s team facing off against the Miami Heat. The Celtics have been dominant against Erik Spoelstra’s team this season, winning all three of their matchups.
Yesterday, I examined the Heat’s offense and its success on the defensive end. Today, we’ll examine the different actions Boston has run that have worked against the Heat throughout the season. I have chosen to stick with the first game of the season between these two teams, primarily because as they season wore on, both Spoelstra and Mazzulla kept their playbooks closer to their chest.
The opening matchup between the two rosters was the most “action-heavy” of the three meetings in terms of set plays rather than the standard principle-based offense they always run. Essentially, there was more of a chess match.
As a quick refresher, Miami likes to trap teams into taking a bunch of threes but is among the best perimeter defenses in the league. They’re also designed to deter rim attempts, although their ability to defend those shots is rather poor. As such, Mazzulla will be looking for ways to attack the mid-range, get his stars going downhill and create space on the perimeter.
When I was looking at the play data and seeing how the Heat are limiting threes, this was the first play I thought of. The Celtics run a double down screen in transition. Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis essentially run an elevator play for Jayson Tatum, allowing him to catch the ball in miles of space and get his shot off without a hand in his face.
Little wrinkles like this are going to be key. The more open looks Boston can get from deep, the quicker they can build a cushion throughout the night.
According to Synergy, the Heat are among the better transition defensive teams in the NBA. They hold teams to 49.6% shooting, ranking them in the 90th percentile for defensive points allowed per transition possession. So, it makes sense that the Celtics would use their scoring gravity on the perimeter to open up dribble-drive offense as the defense looks to build out to the ball.
Boston puts Tatum and Jaylen Brown in the corners, stretching out the defense’s low helpline. Porzingis is at the top of the perimeter, with Jrue Holiday in the weakside slot. Bam Adebayo has picked up Derrick White. With a mismatch on the perimeter, White attacks off the dribble, driving to attack the space in and around the paint. Holiday 45-cuts, receives the dump-off pass and gets the easy bucket.
As a bonus, Brown steals the inbounds pass and gets an easy dunk.
Another way of attacking the Heat’s transition defense when looking to get shots off on the perimeter is running a simple ghost screen for the ball-handler, creating just enough confusion to open up an off-the-dribble shooting opportunity. As you can see above, that is exactly what Sam Hauser did for Derrick White. The ghost screen created a split-second where Duncan Robinson stepped out of White’s shooting zone, forcing him to outstretch on the contest, which diminished its effectiveness.
Of course, the best way to attack a perimeter defense is to screen it into oblivion. The Celtics have been doing this all season, especially when looking to get into the post.
I would expect to see the Celtics running slice and wedge actions for Tatum, Brown and Porzingis throughout this series. Having one of those three shuffle cut into the paint will instantly bend the Heat’s defensive gameplan — it’s one thing to allow a ton of threes when you’re contesting them, it’s another to allow them after you over-reacted to whoever is working out of the post. And you’ve got to react to the post, because the three most talented scorers are all going to spend time there.
Even on post-entry passes like the one shown above, the Celtics have the mid-range creation to punish Miami’s perimeter defense and draw bigs away from the rim, limiting the Heat’s ability to protect the cup.
One of the lesser-discussed aspects of Porzingis’ game has been his ability to create out of the post and make high-level reads. Of course, he can also face up and shoot over you, as you can see in the below clip.
Outside of looking to attack the middle of the court, the Celtics will likely look to generate additional driving opportunities via empty-side actions. One play they ran in their first meeting with the Heat this season was a “Flex Zoom side PnR.” Now, I’ll be honest: the Heat did a good job of recovering on the play and managed to block the shot. However, I’m a fan of good processes, and the action as a whole has multiple outcomes that could be beneficial.
Here’s an annotated version, too.
Mazzulla’s team has run a slew of empty-side actions throughout the season. As the basketball calendar drew to a close, the Celtics returned to many of those actions, indicating they’re likely to utilize them during the postseason.
By removing a shooter in the corner, the Celtics will have additional spacing on the strong side, allowing drives to force rotations and easier scoring or passing opportunities to occur.
Overall, Boston has the talent, system and experience to crack Miami’s defensive scheme and attack the principles they look to follow when trying to shut down opposing offenses in both the half-court and open floor.
We will undoubtedly see some wrinkles, both on the offensive and defensive end. Nevertheless, we have seen the basis of how Mazzulla’s team has looked to exploit the Heat’s shortcomings this season. We know the game plan works. If the Celtics can adjust for playoff intensity and continue to generate quality opportunities based on good process, they should be in control of the series from opening tip on Sunday.
Miami won’t be an easy out. They will fight and claw on every possession. Still, this Celtics team is incredibly talented and experienced. Now, they just need to prove their regular-season production was a sign of things to come.
