Sport 2s have not gone well for the Boston Celtics this postseason. Two straight collection, two straight ugly defeats in the identical spot. Each occasions, they began the collection with a blowout win, solely to get outworked the following sport.
The Miami Warmth made a franchise-record 23 threes, and the Cleveland Cavaliers tallied their most factors in a playoff sport since 2018. However for in addition to their opponents performed, Boston merely did not convey their A-game.
“I believe it was just a bit little bit of effort and focus,” Jrue Vacation stated at shootaround on Saturday. “Not concentrating on the issues we had gone over within the gameplan and never executing.”
Led by Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers’ pick-and-roll sport, Cleveland dissected a porous Celtics protection. Al Horford and Luke Kornet’s drop protection was met with an avalanche of paint touches, resulting in straightforward buckets for the Cavs.
“We’ve simply acquired to convey up the depth,” stated Vacation. “Extra consideration to element, particularly how guys wish to drive and get to the basket and performs they wish to make. Simply lock in somewhat extra.”
Rising effort ranges was the theme after Boston’s Sport 2 loss to Miami, and the identical development has carried over.
“Gotta be extra aggressive, extra ball strain, and simply general extra effort,” stated Jaylen Brown. “It was somewhat bit lax. We might be lots higher.”
But, whereas the similarities between the 2 collection have shined by, the Celtics have various views on whether or not or to not pull from their previous experiences.
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Photograph by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe by way of Getty Pictures
Brown is concentrated on what’s in entrance of them.
“It’s a brand new collection. It’s a brand new sport. We will’t anticipate it to go the identical manner,” stated Brown. “We’ve gotta set up what we wish, and we gotta come out and be the more durable enjoying crew.”
In the meantime, Vacation stated the identical counterattack strategies may be utilized.
“For certain,” Vacation stated. “Something can occur in a playoff collection. You get punched within the mouth, and also you’re simply going to have to regulate and hit again. We did that final collection, and we plan on doing that right this moment.”
Actuality possible lives someplace within the center. Boston dominated Miami for 3 straight contests following their Sport 2 loss. They discovered from their errors, upped their depth, and adjusted accordingly.
Concurrently, they will’t anticipate this collection to go the identical manner. Boston can push themselves and attempt for the same end result, however going into the remainder of Spherical 2 with the expectation of profitable may result in slip-ups.
Boston’s poor defensive efficiency in Sport 2 led to the loss. Nonetheless, the Cavaliers performed a component. They picked up their offensive vigor, attacking the Celtics’ lackluster line of protection with a transparent want to avenge their Sport 1 displaying.
Either side of the coin had been related to the Sport 2 end result, however the Celtics are able to return to the motive force’s seat.
“I believe that they turned up their depth, too,” Vacation stated. “I believe, [in the] first sport, they didn’t play in addition to they may have. They got here out that second sport and turned up the depth.
“Now, it’s one thing that we’ve got to do, which is have the ability to additionally flip up the depth, however lock into the sport plan and have the ability to execute that to the most effective of our means.”
