The Boston Celtics bounced back from their disappointing loss against the Miami Heat on Wednesday (April 24), with a convincing win on Saturday (April 27). Joe Mazzulla’s team increased their intensity, physicality and focus as they ran Miami into the ground throughout the first three quarters.
During his postgame press conference, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra credited the Celtics approach to the game. He admitted that Boston played with an improved physicality and consistently found ways to attack Miami’s defense while flattening out their coverages. Notably, he credited Boston for bullying his team with their screening.
“They were the more physical team,” Spoelstra said. “They bodied us, bullied us on screens. Got through stuff. Distorted screens. Everything. Flattened us out. They were the more physical team. The team with more physicality and force on both ends of the court.”
While Spoelstra was quick to credit Boston’s approach, he did insinuate that his team failed to show up.
“Once they started bullying us and bodying us and gettin g us out of any other trigger or action, it was easy to flatten us out at that point. Nobody was open and we were left with end-of-possession on going one-on-one or dribbling through all of their size.”
The Celtics must be weary of a potential bounce-back game from the Heat. Their coaching staff is talented at putting together a game plan and finding minor tweaks to give them an advantage.
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Nevertheless, Mazzulla’s team has a more talented and healthier roster. Boston is well-positioned to take control of the series and win 4-1. They just need to play with the same level of focus that we saw from them on Saturday.
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