Three takeaways from Thursday’s Celtics practice after Game 2 loss

Fresh off of a tough loss, the Celtics practiced for an hour on Thursday afternoon in preparation for Game 3 of the series against the Heat.

Here are three takeaways from the Celtics’ afternoon practice:

1. Kristaps Porzingis addresses first real hurdle as a Celtic

Since Porzingis was traded to Boston, it’s been smooth sailing. He had a career-year in the post this season, averaging 20.1 points per game on 51.6% shooting and hitting 37.5% from downtown. He only shot below 49% from the field in one month – March – and enjoyed resounding success on a league-best 64-win team.

Much has been made of him always having a smile on his face, engaging with fans, and thriving with the media, with the understanding that until this point, he really hasn’t faced much adversity as a Celtic.

But in Game 2, Porzingis had one of his worst offensive games in years, finishing with just 6 points on 1 of 9 shooting in the 10-point loss. Notably, he also had a game-worse +/- of -32.

He spoke with reporters on Thursday and was slightly more reserved than usual, noting that Miami upped their physicality on him and made every catch difficult, but opting not to detail specific offensive adjustments he plans on making later in the series.

“It’s small margins – us getting a little bit better position, a little bit cleaner looks at the pass,” Porzingis said. “A little better positioning makes a big difference. They did a hell of a job to be honest. And, I didn’t have a good offensive game at all.”

Porzingis said he likes to get away from basketball after a tough offensive game, and Al Horford said he wasn’t concerned about Porzingis’s uncharacteristic struggles.

“KP will be fine,” Horford said. “As far as that goes, I feel like we’ll be a little more organized. He’ll have opportunities. He missed a lot of touch shots that he normally makes. That’s bound to happen. I’m confident that he’ll be good to go on Saturday and he’ll be much better.”

2. Al Horford stressed the Celtics guarding the three-point line better – and badly.

In his five-minute media availability after practice, Horford mentioned the Celtics needed to defend the three-point line better on seven different occasions. Some of that was the result of media questions, but it was evident that the 17-year veteran is stressing a greater defensive urgency to limit Miami’s three-point shooting.

After all, the Heat broke a franchise playoff record of 23 three-pointers – and hit at least 50% on threes for the fourth time in two postseasons against Boston.

“We just have to be better,” Horford said. “We have to be better at defending the three-point line. They shot it, shot a lot of them, a lot of frequency. I know we will be better next game. There will be more of an awareness to that.”

3. Joe Mazzulla wants the Celtics to focus on the things they can control

There are going to be outlier shooting games, but Joe Mazzulla noted there are various things that are always going to be in the team’s hands, not the opponents. That’s what he wants the Celtics to focus on.

“After every game, you have to go back to, “What are the things you can control?” first,” Mazzulla said. “And we can control our offensive execution, we can control our transition defense, and we can control a decent percentage of those threes. And so, that’s the first step.”

Against Miami, the Celtics attempted more free throws (21 to 18) and more field goals (80 to 70), and had more rebounds (39 to 36).

“Winning the shot margin from the way that we did – from the free throw line and more offensive rebounds and less turnovers – that’s a recipe for long-term success. So I think that’s the balance of finding where you get better, but also not overreacting, because if you do that, it opens up more to what they’re capable of.”

Bonus content: Here’s Derrick White walking around the Auerbach Center with a jersey tied around his head after practice.