12 wins to go for the elusive 18th banner. The Boston Celtics may not have had Kristaps Porzingis in this NBA Playoffs matchup but that did not mean the Miami Heat were saved from being dominated. Coach Joe Mazzulla started off hot with each and every one of his schemes picking apart Coach Erik Spoelstra's coverages. It worked out for Jaylen Brown and Derrick White but not so much for Jayson Tatum. The star looked off at certain times but this is where his and the rest of the squad's mental fortitude comes in.
Tatum asks for a criterion
Whenever the Celtics win, the same criticism still falls into play. It's that they have a star-studded roster but no toughness to the squad that they field every night in the NBA Playoffs. Jayson Tatum does not understand this concern at all. He does not even know what criterion people are looking at when they hurl these types of vitriol at Joe Mazzulla's squad, via Noa Dalzell of SB Nation.
“The world we live in, there’s gotta be something wrong with every team… I think it’s lazy or easy to say teams can out-tough us. I never understood. What's the definition of tough? Having louder guys on your team? That s*** doesn't make you tough. Everybody has their own definition,” the Celtics star declared.
If the Celtics weren't tough in this NBA Playoffs series win, then maybe it's time to re-evaluate the basis for it. They had to overcome the fact that Kristaps Porzingis could not close out the series due to a sprain while also seeing some off-nights from Jayson Tatum. Nonetheless, they still molly-whopped the Heat to Cancun after blowing them out in four out of the five games.
Yes, the Celtics have great individual players but they needed to overcome forms of adversity to even be considered as one of the greatest teams ever assembled.
Celtics send the Heat packing
The expectation was for this NBA Playoffs game to be closer. Coach Spo had to personnel to keep hammering it on the inside while creating space in the perimeter for his shooters. This was a solid gameplan given that the two stars running the show for the Heat were Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. However, both stars were just suffocated by the Celtics defense.
Adebayo may have ended this game by recording 23 points but the way they got them were certainly not efficient. He only managed to knock down 10 out of his 26 field goal attempts for the night. The Heat big man also could not get close to the rim a lot to sky for rebounds. This effectively stunted his effectiveness on the glass. It got him stuck at five rebounds for the rest of the game.
Tyler Herro also could not help the pitiful Heat offense. He only notched 15 points. His shot selection was also put to question because of how the Celtics were forcing him to take those. The guard sank only one out of his eight field goal attempts. He then went six for 19 in his shots from the field.
All of these were great displays of blitzing amazing players throughout the season. Is this not a show of toughness?
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