Entering Game 5, Joe Mazzulla wanted one thing from his team: To be desperate.
“The most important thing is understanding that they’re going to be desperate, and we need to be too. We have to have the same sense of urgency,” Mazzulla said pregame. “We got to play the whole game, and we got to compete at a high level the entire game, and it still might not be enough. So you have to go in with the mindset of whatever it takes. By any means necessary.”
On Wednesday night, the Celtics didn’t step onto the court as a team-leading 3-1. Instead, Boston came out hungry, fulfilling that sense of desperation their head coach was seeking.
Less than three minutes into the game, Jrue Holiday chased down an offensive rebound heading out of bounds and heaved the ball one-handed back into play. On the receiving end was Jaylen Brown, who jumped over two Miami Heat players and wrestled the ball away from Nikola Jovic. As Brown put the ball on the ground and drove through the lane, Al Horford sealed Bam Adebayo, leading to a smooth lefty finish.
That play summed up the game.
Boston simply wanted it more, and it resulted in a dominant 34-point win, their largest playoff victory against the Heat, and their third-largest playoff win in franchise history.
“They took control of this game,” Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game. “You could sense that they wanted this to end right tonight and not let this thing get back to Miami. That’s a sign of a mature team.”
The Celtics never gave Miami a chance, as Boston cruised to its third wire-to-wire victory of the series. They handled their business efficiently, not making things more complicated than necessary.
“Yes, and that’s how it should be,” Jayson Tatum said after the game, responding to whether closing out the series in five games showed maturity considering Boston’s past. “We should be learning from our mistakes and learning from things that we could have done better and applying it to the next season, which we are doing this year. Because we’re trying to have a different outcome from what we had last year.”
Derrick White and Jaylen Brown each finished with 25 points in the win, while Tatum chipped in another 16. As a team, the Celtics shot 42-of-77 (54.5%) from the field and 16-of-40 (40.0%) from deep.
Bam Adebayo led the way for the hosts with 23 points.
Here are four takeaways as the Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
Blistering start
Although Joe Mazzulla wasn’t explicitly fixated on the team needing a fast start in Game 5, he got one.
Behind 15 points from Derrick White, nine from Jayson Tatum, and another eight from Jaylen Brown, the Celtics outscored Miami 41-23 in the opening frame. Boston’s 41 points were tied for the highest-scoring first quarter in Celtics’ playoff history.
“You want to throw the first punch,” White said after the game. “I think we did that pretty much the whole series. Just being aggressive early, and then just having that pace and everything that we talked about the whole season. We were able to do a good job of that.”
The Celtics came out with force and dictated the pace from the start, and the result was a 14-of-21 (66.7%) quarter shooting from the field and 8-of-14 (57.1%) from deep.
Boston’s lead swelled to 18 points in the first quarter before extending it to 20 early in the second. Throughout the series, they held a commanding 20-point lead for a staggering 84 minutes and 39 seconds.
Centers step up
Heading into Game 5, and likely for the foreseeable future, the overarching question on everyone’s mind was, “How will the Celtics fare without Kristaps Porzingis?”
While Game 5 was just one game, and Boston will likely at least begin the next round without their big man, the early display from Boston's other bigs was promising for Celtics fans.
As expected, Al Horford slid into the starting lineup for Boston and was up for the task. The ever-so-steady 37-year-old finished the night with eight points, six rebounds, three assists, and a block while making valuable contributions through his floor spacing and effective screening.
“Al kind of sets the temperature for us with his ability to impact the game basketball-wise,” Mazzulla said on Horford postgame. “Also, with his personality. His aggressiveness. He set the table for us. He set the tone for us. And everybody followed suit.”
Most importantly, Horford played just under 23 minutes. As Horford slides in as the primary big man, keeping him fresh is essential for the Celtics.
Horford was able to keep his minutes low due to the production provided by Luke Kornet.
The Vanderbilt provided rock-solid minutes for Boston, specifically on the defensive end, where he played a key role in limiting Bam Adebayo to 23 points on 26 shots. Kornet finished the game with two points, seven rebounds, two assists, and a block on Adebayo en route to a +21 plus-minus.
“Credit to Luke,” Mazzulla said after the game. “Started the series with an injury and came back and gave us great minutes. It’s important that he continues to do that for us. Every series kind of has a life of its own, so there’ll be different matchups different sub-patterns, but their open-mindedness and ability to play, regardless of the circumstances, is important.”
Kornet did what he was asked in Game 5. And the reality is, he doesn’t need to do any more than that while Porzingis is sidelined. All he needs to do is continue to provide steady minutes, and the Celtics will be just fine. He checked a box Wednesday night.
Derrick White: Series MVP
Midway through the first quarter, Al Horford found Derrick White on the wing. With Nikola Jokic and Bam Adebayo closing in to challenge, White, who had drained a three-pointer just moments before, hit them with a pump fake, leaving them in the dust, and threw down a one-handed jam.
As Erik Spoelstra furiously signaled for a timeout, White made his way to the Celtics’ bench, his gaze fixed on his hand. He was taking this whole “hot hands” thing to another level.
Later in the game, during a timeout, a fan seated next to the Celtics’ bench began waving his arms and blowing in an attempt to cool down White, who seemed to be quite literally on fire.
The 29-year-old continued his dominant postseason, finishing 25 points on 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the field and 5-of-10 (50%) from deep, with five rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
White finished the series with 112 points (second-most on the team), on 41-of-71 (57.7%) shooting from the field and 21-of-44 (47.7%) from deep, 18 rebounds, 16 assists, two steals, and five blocks.
“Super important,” Jayson Tatum said on White’s importance in this series. “Whenever they were trying to take away from other guys, that allowed him to free himself up and be aggressive and in attack mode throughout the series. Making the right play, shooting the ball extremely well, obviously, playing well on defense, as he always does. He’s in such a good flow and rhythm right now, and hopefully, he continues to stay that way.”
White has more points this postseason than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, James Harden, Paul George, Tyrese Haliburton, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Colorado product’s stellar play in this series was a significant factor in the Celtics’ ability to wrap up the series in just five games.
Controlling the margins
When the Celtics returned to the Auerbach Center for their first practice of the postseason, their approach remained the same.
“There’s really no difference between the regular season and the playoffs. It’s just simple details under higher duress,” Joe Mazzulla said after this first postseason practice. “It comes down to the margins, and you got to be ready to win those.”
The Celtics have been emphasizing the Margins all season long, and they dominated this area throughout this series.
Throughout the five games, Boston outshot (+1), outrebounded (+47), attempted more free throws (+43), and had fewer turnovers (-2).
Controlling the margins start on the defensive end, where Boston was solid all series.
Boston held Miami under 95 points in four of the five games. The one exception was Game 2 when Miami hit a franchise-record 23 three-pointers.
It’s worth noting that after their 23 made threes in Game 2, Boston held Miami to 21-of-90 (23.3%) in the final three games of the season. The Heat didn’t crack 90 points in any of those three games.
“That’s the team we want to be. We’ve got guys that, up and down this roster that, can guard and guard multiple positions and at a high level,” White said on the defense after Game 5. “That was a big emphasis for us is the rest of this playoffs, and we’re gonna have to get it done on that end the whole playoffs.”
The Celtics entered the season looking to get back to a defense-first mindset. They remained committed to this goal throughout the regular season, which has undoubtedly translated into their postseason performance.