Al Horford

The Celtics defense bounced back for a dominant Game 4 win to tie the series. Can Boston keep it flowing?

“But obviously, when we lose a game, we feel like the next game is do-or-die, and then we come out and play like we did.” “Did what we did defensively, and now have to do it again.” With Tyler Herro missing Game 4 with a groin injury, all of Miami’s primary creators need to bounce back, and that gives Boston the advantage when it stops making countless mistakes. Horford spent a lot of the game spaced to the corner opposite Williams’ baseline roaming, making sure Adebayo was too far from the rim to contest the lob. The last series followed this same script, with Milwaukee getting the 1-0 start and then trading wins until Boston was facing elimination in Game 6. You might have one on the wing; you might have one on the block,” Williams said. Tatum also adjusted by pulling up early when he saw Lowry coming over for the charge, using an up-fake to lose his defender and get a wide-open shot. He would take on cross matches on switches, then make bold choices to get to spots early, knowing Miami could figure out a way to recover on the back end. Boston found ways to intentionally drag Lowry down to the paint off the ball, wanting him to take charges to open up the lob game to Williams, which had disappeared against Milwaukee. The Heat play short lineups almost the entire game, and though they have elite physicality and hand-eye coordination, Adebayo is the only player who can take away Boston’s vertical spacing above the rim. We just kind of settled in and just took the first available contested shot. With Williams back in the lineup, Boston’s deep-drop coverage was so much more coordinated and shrunk Miami’s comfort zone to the midrange, something Butler said was an issue of settling on his part. Bam Adebayo cooked him and everyone else in his path in the last game.