Celtics put up another defensive stinker in Game 1 against Heat

BOSTON -- At least for one half on Wednesday night, it looked like the Celtics may actually shed their Game 1 woes. Then the third quarter happened against the Miami Heat, and their hard work over the first 24 minutes went down the drain.

The Celtics took a nine-point lead into their locker room at TD Garden when halftime of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals hit. By the start of the fourth, they trailed Miami by a dozen.

Blame it on the defense, which was once again a no-show for the Celtics. Boston's first-half lead couldn't completely mask another lackluster defensive performance, and then it all came to a head in the third when the Heat outscored the C's by an embarrassing 46-to-25 margin. 

Miami hit just about everything in the frame, with Heat players knocking down 17 of their 26 shots (65.4 percent) and six of their nine threes. The Celtics offered very little resistance throughout.

Ill-advised double teams by the Boston defense let Miami shooters camp out along the perimeter and get open looks, which they took full advantage of. Max Strus hit half of Miami's threes in the quarter from all over the perimeter, as the Celtics somehow lost a guy shooting 48 percent from deep this postseason. Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, and Jimmy Butler added the other triples for Miami in the frame. 

But it wasn't just lost shooters on the perimeter. Boston gave up 10 second-chance points and eight points off four turnovers in the third. The Heat ran free for nine fast-break points as well.

"Sometimes we didn't get back," Jayson Tatum said after the 123-116 loss. "We had some turnovers, spacing, defensive coverages that we got mixed up on that we went over in shootaround. A lot of things that we can control to be better at."

Add it all up and it led to the Celtics giving up 46 points in a postseason quarter for just the second time -- ever. It's the first time it has happened since the 1984 Finals against the Lakers, when most of the roster -- and head coach Joe Mazzulla -- wasn't even born yet.

The third quarter was bad. Just the pits. It was an unacceptable performance from a home team in Game 1 of the flippin' Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics have now been outscored in the third eight times this postseason. This also happened against the Heat in Game 1 of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, when Miami outscored Boston 39-14 en route to a victory.

But Wednesday night's third quarter, and the game as a whole, was really just another lackluster defensive performance from a team that hasn't been playing particularly well on that end of the floor all postseason.

Despite locking down the Philadelphia 76ers in the final two games of the East semis, the Celtics defense has been pretty abysmal all postseason. Boston has surrendered 115 or more points in eight of the team's 14 games during the playoffs. The Celtics are just 2-6 in those contests, and 6-0 when they hold the opposition under 115.

"Defense is going to help us propel to where we want to get to. And defensively tonight, we weren't good enough," said Jaylen Brown. "We gave up 123 points. The game plan should be defense."  

Marcus Smart agrees. Asked if Miami made any changes after halftime, he made it clear that it was nothing that the Heat did differently; just the Celtics' complete lack of focus on the defensive end.

"The only thing we need to adjust to is picking up our physicality and playing some damn defense," said Smart. "That's the only thing that switched. They didn't change anything from the first half that they weren't doing. They just upped their physicality. Nothing technical, X's and O's. It's just coming out and guarding your yard."

If the TD Garden was the host of a backyard party on Wednesday night, the Celtics let the Heat waltz right in and do whatever they wanted. The Heat muscled the Celtics off the bocce court, picked all the berries in their garden, and then stole everything off the picnic table. 

And the Celtics just stood around and let it all happen.

"It's a choice. It's a decision," Brown said of Boston's physicality -- or lack thereof. "Just come out and play with a different mentality. We came out too cool. It was almost like we were playing a regular-season game. It's the Eastern Conference Finals. Come on. We gotta play with more intensity."

Now the Celtics have to make sure they defend their yard Friday night. Given Boston's track record, the odds were good that they'd lose one of the first two games at TD Garden. But if they turn in another uninspiring defensive performance, the C's could easily find themselves in an 0-2 series hole when they make their was to Miami over the weekend.