Celtics Survive 1st Half Rock Fight, Pull Away From Heat to take Pivotal Game 5
May 25, 2022
In each of the first four games of this Eastern Conference Finals series, the amount of time when each team has been playing well simultaneously has been minimal at best. Wednesday night in Miami for game five the crowd was treated to the opposite, as both teams struggled mightily to score in the first half. The Celtics and Heat had battled for four straight games to a 2-2 stalemate, and came into game five banged up to say the least. Seemingly every meaningful player is dealing with some kind of ailment or injury, but the only player to actually sit out was Tyler Herro. In the ever critical game five, both teams came out with intense physicality and effort on defense, and both teams were equally bad on offense. The Celtics completely stifled the Heat half court offense, while Miami kept forcing turnovers, and the Celtics missed shot after shot, which led to a 42-37 Heat lead at halftime. Whatever Ime Udoka said to his team at halftime, the message got across, as Boston came out and almost matched their first half output in the third quarter alone, dominating the Heat 32-16 in the third, which propelled the Celtics to a massive 93-80 win, taking a 3-2 lead in the series, and moving within one win of an NBA Finals berth.
Much of the first half looked just as disastrous as the low points of this series for Boston. They were far too loose with the ball, turning it over 10 times, including four just by Jaylen Brown who looked like he had lost the ability to dribble. Making matters worse, the Celtics were bleeding offensive rebounds, failing to box out, and getting caught ball watching while the Heat crashed the glass and beat them to loose balls. Of Miami’s 42 first half points, 16 were second chance points off their 9 offensive rebounds, and 12 of the points came directly from the Celtics’ 10 turnovers. To compound things even further, the Celtics weren’t able to get going on offense at all, shooting 38% from the floor, including 4/16 from three. Jayson Tatum looked like his shoulder was still bothering him, as he struggled to shoot, making just 1/9 and 1/5 from three, scoring just four points. His co-star, Brown didn’t fare much better, along with his brutal turnovers Brown shot just 2/7 from the floor and scored just six points. It was almost as bad of a half as the Celtics can muster, but the good news is that their defense - especially in the half - court was just as reliable as ever. All things considered, the Celtics were probably lucky to be down just 5 points, and it turned out to be a sign of good things to come.
As the third quarter got underway, the Celtics immediately looked like a brand new team. They blitzed the Heat quickly, playing with purpose and getting to the basket for a quick 8-0 run to take a 45-42 lead. The Heat were able to find their footing and hold off the Celtics for much of the quarter, until the Celtics closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run, opening up the largest lead of the game for either team, and ending the quarter up 69-58. Boston kept it rolling into the fourth, starting the final quarter on a 14-2 run to open up an 83-60 lead and that was all she wrote. The Celtics were able to play the same brand of steady defense in the second half and keep the Heat at bay, but they were finally able to get their offense going and solved the Miami defense. Once the team started driving with purpose, opening up good looks, and knocking down some open shots, there was nothing the Heat could do. The Celtics were finally able to force the floodgates open and within about a six minute stretch of game time they were able to turn a one point lead into a 23 point lead.
Despite the rocky first half, the Jays showed their brilliance in the second half, completely responding to adversity and rising to the occasion. Tatum finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists, while shooting 6/11 after the break. He was every bit the first-team all NBA player he was named earlier in the day, dominating the second half. Even when Tatum was shooting poorly he was making all the right plays for his team, basically setting up all of the Celtics offense. It was one of the better passing and playmaking games of his career considering the circumstances. Brown turned it on as well, finishing with 25 points and shooting 8/12 after the break. During the big run Tatum was able to draw help and kick to Brown for daggers repeatedly, including the final nail in the coffin that put Boston up 23 and had Tatum raising both arms to the sky in joy and appreciation for his teammate. Robert Williams was able to play and gave the Celtics a big boost patrolling the paint as usual, and supplying a number of impressive blocks. Al Horford was also great, and really kept the Celtics in the game in the first half. Rob finished with 6 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks, while Al had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. But their contributions go far beyond the box score. When both big guys were on the court, the Heat were basically incapable of scoring at the rim, and absolutely nothing was easy. Marcus Smart gutted it out with an ankle sprain, but clearly wasn’t himself, lasting only 23 minutes. But luckily for the Celtics, Derrick White supplied one of his best performances in a Celtics uniform, attacking the basket relentlessly, and wrapping up his night with 14 points and 5 assists on 6/8 shooting. His two way excellence largely led to Payton Pritchard getting buried on the bench after missing his first two shots, essentially removing the only target for the Heat offense to attack.
The Heat offense just had no answers for the Celtics defense. Some of their guys are clearly banged up but I’m not sure how much it even mattered. Jimmy Butler was nearly invisible yet again, giving Miami just 13 points and 4 assists on a brutal 4/18 shooting. Kyle Lowry put up his second straight goose egg with zero points on 0/6 shooting. Max Strus hit a few free throws, but shot 0/9 from the field. Bam Adebayo did his best to force the issue and play with aggression, but was only able to muster 18 points and 10 rebounds on 8/15 shooting. Perhaps the Heat’s best player of the night was Gabe Vincent who had 15 points on 6/12 from the floor. He kept Miami’s offense afloat at times, but even then, was mostly relying on very difficult contested jumpers. Put simply, the Heat just couldn’t get anything going. They are unable to beat the Celtics defenders with dribble penetration and ball movement. They aren’t forcing the Celtics to help and opening up shooters. They were basically relying on forced shots off the dribble and hoping for the best, basically playing right into the Celtics hands. Boston is happy to concede those shots and dare Miami to make them pay with shooting and that’s how you end up scoring just 80 points in a playoff game.
This victory leaves the Celtics just one win shy of reaching the NBA finals for the first time in over a decade. They’ll even have an opportunity to do it back at home in Boston on Friday night in front of, what is sure to be, a raucous crowd. This team has come close in years past, but something about this season and this team feels different. They aren’t just lucky to be here, they expect to win and they deserve to win. You get the sense that the players realize that, and the coach has certainly been reinforcing that belief. If the Celtics can’t close it out on Friday they’ll head back to Miami for a make-or-break game seven on Sunday night. But hopefully that will never occur and the Celtics will take care of business in TD Garden.
Ben Handler