The Celtics Were Dominant In Their Game 1 Win, But Now It's Time To Forget It Happened And Go Do It Again

Winslow Townson. Getty Images.

Heading into Game 1, when you closed your eyes and dreamt about how you wanted the Celts to look and play, what did you see? Chances are it looks a whole lot like what we got yesterday. As we saw last year, Game 1s at home are certainly no lock for an automatic win. In fact, the Celts lost 2 of the 3 home Game 1s they played, including Game 1 to the Heat. In the 2021-22 run, they went 2-2 in Game 1s, losing Game 1 at home to the Bucks. That year they also lost their first home game against the Heat, although that was Game 3, and we all know about the 2 home losses to the Warriors.

The point is, nothing this time of year is ever a guarantee. You have to go out and earn it. 

So for the 2023-24 Celts to start this series with a 14-0 and 17-2 lead, it in a way was the validation of what we've been saying all year. This team feels different. And while you cannot win a series by winning 1 game, at the end of the day this is a race to 4. All the hype, all the anticipation, the fact that the Cs had lost 5 straight Game 1s to MIA, yesterday was their opportunity to make a statement, and boy is that what they did.

Yesterday's win now makes it 7 of the last 8 against MIA, including 4 of the last 5 in the playoffs. That was about as no-nonsense of a performance as we've seen the Celts start a game with, and the best part is all of it is pretty sustainable. It is not a prayer that the Celts lit it up from three, that's what they do. It's not a prayer that they had every Heat player in hell defensively, that's what they do. It's not a prayer that they blew someone out at home, that's what they do.

And while Sunday was awesome, let's also be VERY clear about something. It means jack shit if you can't back it up and also win Game 2. Now come the adjustments, now comes a more desperate Heat team, and in my opinion it will require an even greater level of focus from the Celts. They now have to fight off the dangerous thinking that can sometimes happen after an ass kicking like this. They need to treat Game 2 like it's Game 1 and the record is 0-0. Thinking things will be a cakewalk given how yesterday went is exactly how you blow momentum before going down to MIA. There is a MASSIVE difference between 2-0 and 1-1, so now we'll get another look at their focus level. That was the shit the previous Celts teams did, and it almost always backfired. We all believe this team is different, well this is their chance to show us.

But for a team that hadn't played a meaningful game in a month and had been off for 10 days, it's hard to complain too much about what we saw. They were as dominant as we've ever seen, and god damn was it incredible to watch.

Let's dive in.

The Good

- While everyone is going to play an important role in this gigantic playoff run, make no mistake, things start and stop with the play of Jayson Tatum. That's not just a Celtics thing, that's an every team in the league thing. For you to make deep runs and win a title, your best player needs to level up. They need to be the best version of themselves for 2 months, which requires consistently coming through in big moments. 

Game 1 at home as the overwhelming favorite against a team that feels they can beat you is exactly that type of moment. You cannot lay an egg, you cannot no show. So what did we get?

Advertisement

One of the best Tatum performances of his playoff career.

When Tatum has a complete game like this on both ends of the floor, it takes the Celts to an entirely different level. As we know, when you are curious about Tatum's engagement level in any particular game, all you have to do is look at his rebounding numbers. It should be no surprise that in a game where Tatum looked extremely locked in, he led the team in rebounding. He was the tone setter, but not how you might think when it comes to Tatum.

Often times people think that just means scoring, but that's not what we have here. What made Tatum's performance stand out to me isn't just his 23 points or the fact that his midrange jumper was automatic or that he went 8-8 from the line. It was the fact that he had zero trouble dissecting and breaking down the Heat zone and double teams. If the Heat are not going to be able to double Jayson Tatum while also not being able to play their zone, what exactly can they do defensively? 

What we saw was a player that has years of experience against this dark magic. Time and time again we saw him manipulate the zone so that the Heat were forced to double (like he was anticipating), and without hesitation, Tatum knew exactly what pass to make to break it. Shit like this

Advertisement

Given what we've seen from Tatum against this zone and the Heat doubles, you're going to tell me that's not growth? 

Every time they tried it, Tatum never panicked or forced things offensively into a low percentage shot, instead choosing to make the right play and the simple play, which was then rewarded by the Basketball Gods. You don't beat the Heat dark magic by paying hero ball and trying to do it all yourself. You beat it by playing the right way. We saw all season what happens to opposing defenses when the Celts are able to get them in rotation. In order to do that, the ball has to move, so when your best player is a MORE than willing passer and isn't forcing shit offensively, that stuff translates to everyone else. That's why the best player is so important to team success this time of year. 

Defensively, Tatum brought the juice on that end of the floor as well. Of all his matchups yesterday, Tatum only allowed 5 total points. There's a reason why anyone with a brain knows he's one of the best two way wings in the league, which is why it's always funny to me when people suggest he's not a 1st team All NBA player because other guys might be good offensively. Cool, Tatum is elite at both ends. Hope that helps.

In regards to the Martin foul, I love that Tatum immediately bounced back up, gave a quick dap to Jaylen for having his back and didn't consider for a second playing into the Heat's bullshit. We all know this is what they want to do, but it shows another sign of growth that Tatum didn't take the bait, whether in real time or after the game

- Back in October, Kristaps Porzingis had the greatest Celtics debut in the franchise's history. That's not hyperbole, that's really what he did. What followed that moment was one of the best seasons of his life. 

Yesterday in April, Kristaps Porzingis had one of the best Celtics playoff debuts you'll ever see. That's not hyperbole, that's really what he did

I don't think you're an asshole if you were maybe a little nervous about what KP might look like in the playoffs. It's not like he has a long history of epic playoff performances, let alone for a title contender. We know Brad traded for him for this exact matchup, so for KP to show up and immediately give an efficient 18/4/1/2 on 7-13 (4-6) and a +17 in his 34 minutes can only be described as a religious experience. 

Advertisement

KP dominated this matchup during the season (20 a game on 57/50%), and things looked pretty much the same yesterday. I'm just not sure what the Heat can do as an adjustment to guarding KP, because he's too tall if they go zone and you can just put KP on the nail, but then again you also have to guard him 35 ft from the rim because if you don't he's going to make it rain. We didn't even really get all that much post up offense from him, which is the best in the NBA.

What we did see is KP attack MIA switches just like Brad Stevens told us he would in June, we saw him provide elite rim protection, and he did all this while also taking 0 FTA. While it's maybe a little unrealistic to think he'll go 4-8 from three in every game, the beauty is he doesn't have to. If he needs to adjust and score in other ways, he's shown the ability to do that. 

At no point did it feel like KP was getting bullied on the boards or in the paint, and you saw the type of difference-maker he can be in a playoff series. There's a reason he's a human cheat code, and this game was a great example of that. I can only imagine his nerves heading into the biggest playoff game of his life, so for him to immediately deliver like this does help calm some nerves that may have existed leading into this series.

- For some reason, despite all his success, there are still some Celts fans out there who do not think Joe Mazzulla knows what he's doing and that he's not the right coach for this team. Let me just ask you this.

Did the Celts seem prepared to you yesterday? Did they seem ready for the zone? Now compare that to what we saw in the Heat's other games and how much that zone dominated their opponents. 

Where do we think that comes from? Joe (and the rest of his staff).

Now the challenge will be seeing Joe's adjustments to whatever Spo tries to cook up, but nothing we've seen suggests that he won't be ready. The gameplan was sound, the execution was there, and it didn't matter what Spo tried, Joe had a counter. 

Basically, the team played Mazzulla Ball (22 3PM, 49 3PA, 27 AST, 10 TO) and they blew someone out. Stop me if you've seen that before.

- Our first look at the playoff version of Bald Derrick and guess what? It's just as awesome as you envisioned

Talk about a tale of two halfs. In the first half, the backcourt was pretty nonexistent offensively. It's not often you see a player as important as White only have 2 points in 16 minutes. But as they say, that's why NBA games are 48 minutes and not 24, because the second half? 

Advertisement

18/2/2 on 5-6 (4-5) and a team best +16 in his 17 minutes. Not to mention his All NBA defense which was as lockdown as ever

Derrick is going to have such a steady diet of wide open looks in this series, all I'm asking for is for him to just be his normal self. Really that's my ask of everyone. I don't need any overachieving, just being your average self will be more than enough. For a guy that lives above 40% on C&S 3PA, it's no surprise that he was effective off ball in this game. But if the Heat run him off the line and make him beat them with floaters, that's fine too.

- A lead as high as 34, 0 lead changes, 0 ties, and a 20 point win. It's hard to get much better than a wire to wire blowout, and I'm pretty sure the Celts led the NBA in 10 of these type of games during the year. I loved how they came out after the half and stepped on throats, winning the 3rd quarter 31-14. I loved how every time it felt like the Heat were trying to make a run, there was an immediate response as opposed to playing into their run with poor TOs and bad decisions.

It felt like a more mature performance, which is exactly what I think we were all looking for.

- Only 5 OREB and 5 2nd chance points for the Heat. That's how you know the Celts were locked in. What's killed them in so many playoff losses (TOs, OREB, 2nd chance points) was at no point an issue in Game 1. That tells me they were playing with the right amount of energy and focus, which has to become the standard for this entire run.

- As the other leader of this team, I thought Jaylen's performance was exactly what the team needed from him in this matchup.

Like Tatum, you can always look at Jaylen's engagement level by his rebounding, and his 8 were the 2nd most on the team. Imagine that? The Jays were #1 and #2 in rebounding, and the Celts looked great. They are the tone setters. For Jaylen it was his early offense, and after overcoming a little bit of blinder basketball in the first quarter, I thought his second half was as close to perfect as you could want.

Advertisement

So much was made about Jaylen's TOs in the ECF against this team, so for him to finish with just 1 TO in 34 minutes while shooting 6-12 (3-5) is what I would call a step in the right direction. The only adjustment I would make to his game is that when Tatum comes out in that first quarter sub with 6 minutes left, Jaylen shouldn't feel the need to force things offensively. Just keep playing the right way and everything will be fine. There were a few instances where we saw him try and take on the entire Heat defense himself, and that's not needed. He was much better about it in the second half and look at the difference.

- We didn't only see why Brad traded for KP, we also saw why he traded for Jrue Holiday. To put it simply, Holiday's defense yesterday was superb. He completely eliminated Tyler Herro from this game right from the opening tip. Given how important Herro's offense is going to be, that's a pretty big fucking deal. 

On over 30 possessions guarding Herro, he finished with just 3 points and had 2 TOs. He was in hell. Not being able to need Holiday's offense at all which in turn allows him to instead turn it the hell up defensively is such a luxury. It didn't even matter that he was 2-8 because his defense was so incredible. Aside from limiting Herro's FGA, he finished with 2 steals and 2 blocks in his 33 minutes, while also being 3rd in the team in rebounding.

Basically, Holiday did all the stuff around the margins that help you blowout your opponent. In terms of a Celtics playoff debut, it's pretty much exactly what you want from him in that role. Sure it would be nice if he wouldn't smoke so many bunnies, but that's easy to overlook given everything else he did in this win.

- What more is there to say about the bench? There's a reason you want homecourt, and it's because your role players tend to play better at home. A total of 30 points from Horford/Pritchard/Hauser on 11-21 (8-16) shooting. Oh, and none of them had a single turnover. 

Horford looked 27, Hauser and Pritchard maintained their level of elite shooting, and outside of a random Delon Wright 4th quarter, the Heat's second unit couldn't really match it. Given all this shooting, playing so much zone even against the bench units is a bad idea, because as long as Tatum is on the floor with them he's going to find a way to make you pay, usually with a dagger 3PM from one of those guys.

The Bad

- While they only had 10 TOs (which is a great number), the one thing that wasn't all that great was the 17 points allowed off those TOs. That's the Heat's formula, they need to survive off points off TOs. If you consistently flirt with the 17-20 point range, that's how they pull off their upsets. 

So while the overall total was great, what the Celts did as a result of those TOs wasn't. It didn't burn them in this game, but we've had enough matchups against the Heat where we know that points off TOs is arguably the biggest factor in trying to beat them.

- We all knew it was going to be the case heading into this series, and Game 1 had plenty of Heat bullshit. Bam with moving screen after moving screen

Advertisement

at this point we all know this isn't going to be called. If a screen like that video gets a pass with a ref looking directly at it, then they are going to let them all go. Feet wider than the shoulders, feet not set, and he leans in. That's a textbook illegal screen by every definition, but because it's Bam it doesn't get called.

Screen navigation is going to be important because there will be games where the Heat make their 3s coming off those illegal screens. You're naive to think there won't be. So how the Celts figure out ways to overcome this clear bullshit is going to go a long way in determining this series.

- I'm not sure if the players thought Joe was about to take them out or something, but the first 6 minutes of the 4th quarter were a disaster. The Celts energy and effort looked like the games we saw to end the year, where guys weren't really challenging closeouts, they were daring the Heat to make shots, and given the score and time, it felt like they were just playing out the clock.

It needs to be made VERY clear that you cannot do that shit in a playoff game. Of course teams will go on runs, but not like that. A 34 point lead down to like 15 all because they were playing stupid basketball. The starters had to come back in and they eventually bumped the lead back up, but I did not love the mentality of the approach to start the 4th. You did all that work to build your lead and be stress free, only to let it go as soon as the 4th started.

- If you were nervous about Holiday's playoff shooting, yesterday didn't really do much to calm those nerves. A guy who was under 50% TS% in each of the last 3 playoff runs was at 37.5% in this game. While it obviously didn't matter, it is something to keep an eye on. 

Even in his 5th option role, we can't be having sub 40% TS% performances becoming a thing.

The Ugly

- You could probably guess what was going into this section

Like I said, there was a whole bunch of your typical Heat Culture bullshit in this game. This is what they do. We see it playoff run after playoff run. Now you could make the case that nobody should be in the game at this point, and I think there's some validity to that, but also fuck Caleb Martin for this shit. He knew what he was doing, it was not an accident.

And this is why every Celtics fan had the injury concern heading into this series. This isn't "playing hard and physical", it's playing reckless. There was no play on the ball there from Martin, he had one purpose on that play. His team was getting rocked, so what do they do? They go after the best player. Just like we saw last year with Giannis and his injury.

Advertisement

It's brutal that Game 2 isn't until Wednesday, and if I were to guess it'll probably be a Tony Brothers game which means things will most likely be closer. Whatever you do, do not treat things like this series is over. It is not. Nowhere fucking close.

But as long as the Celts continue to play like they did in Game 1 on both ends of the floor, they should be just fine.