Rating Celtics worry levels in five areas after Game 2 loss to Heat

Rating Celtics worry levels in five areas after Game 2 loss to Heat originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

When the 64-win seed loses to a play-in club without two of its top five players, there’s no such thing as an overreaction.

If Wednesday Disappointing Game 2 loss to Heat you had PTSD (Spoelstra Post-Traumatic Disorder), it is justified. The Heat are like the Patriots of old. No matter how powerful the opponent, they find a way to play the game on their terms. It’s annoying, but man, respect where it’s due.

So, as the series shifts to Miami for Game 3 on Saturday, the Celtics face some uncomfortable questions. Was the Miami shooting unique? Will Erik Spoelstra continue to disrupt the Celtics with new wrinkles? Does Boston’s huge talent disparity mean anything between these two teams?

Let’s examine five issues from Wednesday’s double-digit loss and rate our level of concern on a scale of 1 to 5. Some of them, I hate to say, aren’t going anywhere.

1. Joe Mazzulla vs. Erik Spoelstra

Oh boy. It’s in moments like these that every Celtics fan’s worst fears – that Mazzulla won’t be able to cope with the moment – ​​tingle down the spine with dread.

Lateral behaviors tell the story. Mazzulla peers with his jaw clenched and his eyes a little wide. Spoelstra looks alternately confused and harried as his team is being kicked out, but always calm, like the grizzled editor with the loose tie and three days of stubble who nonetheless has all the answers.

Everyone expected the Heat to play rugby afterwards Caleb Martin’s blind blow to Jayson Tatum at the end of the game 1. Ending the game it was supposedly the only way to compete.

Instead, they took a page from Steph Curry’s Warriors and said the bomb was far away, making an impressive 23 3-point shots. The overwhelming majority were open, because Mazzulla never adjusted. Likewise, he picked a struggling Kristaps Porzingis over the rugged Al Horford at crunch time, and watched the Celtics hunt matchups all night instead of moving the ball.

If the coaches’ clash becomes the dominant theme of the series, buckle up.

Level of concern:5.

2. 3-point shot

This seems like an easy solution: protect the snipers. Without Jimmy Butler to create in the mid-post or Terry Rozier to threaten a high-volume scoring night, Miami is limited offensively. Jrue Holiday and Derrick White silenced Tyler Herro in Game 1, but the Miami guard scored or assisted on 16 of Miami’s 3s in Game 2.

The Celtics clearly had a plan to allow relatively non-shooting shooters like Martin and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. to beat them, but once the duo complied, the Celtics should have increased their defensive pressure. Instead, they left them open all night, and the two responded by shooting 8 of 14 from deep.

Miami shot 37 percent from 3 during the season, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they could hit a few. And if the Celtics assume Miami will simply tie in Game 3, we need only reference last year’s Eastern Conference Finals for the dangers of betting on regression.

But still – are the Heat really going to score 20 more? It seems unlikely as long as the Celtics put up a more concerted resistance.

Level of concern:3

3. Kristaps Porzingis

What happened? The Boston unicorn looked more like a miniature pony in Game 2, shooting just 1 of 9 and recording an impressive minus-32 in 30 minutes. If Porzingis had played like the player we’ve seen all year, torturing smaller defenders in the post, stretching the floor and altering shots on defense, it wouldn’t have mattered what 3s Miami shot.

The Heat were physical and prevented Porzingis from getting to his spot just inside the foul line. The 12-foot players who pay their salary became 16-footers, with diminished results.

We’re just one game removed from Porzingis scoring an efficient 18 points and making four of his eight 3-pointers, though, so this seems more like an aberration. Expect the Celtics to get Porzingis involved early in Game 3.

Level of concern: two

4. Hunting fights

Repeat after me: nothing hinders the Celtics’ attack like playing 1 on 1, nothing hinders the Celtics’ attack like playing 1 on 1, nothing hinders…

We’ve seen this periodically, where the Celtics get a matchup that they consider so favorable, that they hit until ball movement is excluded. On Wednesday, that meant targeting Herro with Jaylen Brown, and on one level, it worked. Brown got what he wanted and scored 33.

But it killed the offensive flow, especially at the end of the game. Mike Gorman and Brian Scalabrine were involved in this during the NBC Sports Boston broadcast, and in the same way that the Celtics dared Miami to make 3’s, the Heat urged the Celtics to slow down their offense and go after Herro.

This may happen here and there, but it cannot be the main focus. The Celtics should learn from this.

Concern level: 1

5. Bam Adebayo

It’s impressive to see the 6-foot-1 Adebayo take the 7-foot-1 Porzingis to the post and then casually shoot over him like he was a traffic cone. It appears Adebayo is shooting 105 percent from anywhere on the floor against the Celtics over the last two postseasons.

He was the defender in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, making 4 of 5 shots to end any hope of a comeback. With Butler sidelined, he’s the closest thing Miami has to an automatic bucket in tough times, his failures reminiscent of former Celtics star Kevin Garnett.

Adebayo has been a nightmare for the Celtics, and we shouldn’t expect that to change. Whether he’s initiating the attack, posting up, or exploiting defensive lapses as an opportunistic runner, he’s tough, and unfortunately, that’s not going to change.

It’s enough to make you wonder if the Celtics should let him take his and focus on everyone else. It’s not like he’s going to score 40. Right?

Level of concern:4