Is your group leading the Miami Heat at halftime? Don’t get too comfy

Entering halftime of Game 1 of their Eastern Conference finals match with the Miami Heat on Wednesday, the Boston Celtics appeared to be in great shape. Not just were they leading by 9 on their house flooring, however they’d required 9 Heat turnovers while striking almost 55% of their own shots. They were controling the action on both ends of the court and appeared poised to cruise to an simple success.

Then, halftime gottenhere. And whatever altered. 

The Heat captured fire from deep. They stopped coughing up the ball. In the 3rd quarter, they went on a 17-3 run and outscored the Celtics 45-25. 

“[We] lost our videogame strategy discipline,” Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla informed pressreporters Wednesday night following the Heat’s spectacular 123-116 win, their 3rd time taking Game 1 on the roadway this postseason. “Allowed them to get out in shift, get second-chance shots, didn’t guard the 3-point line.”

It won’t make Mazzulla feel any muchbetter, however he can take solace in understanding that his Celtics aren’t the veryfirst group the Heat have controlled in the 2nd half of a playoff videogame. In reality, the capability to change throughout the break and maul challengers in the 2nd half may be one of the finest methods to measure the vaunted #HeatCulture, highlight Erik Spoelstra’s radiance as a coach, and discuss how the Heat —  a no. 8 seed that was outscored by challengers in the routine season — keep defying expectations.  

This postseason, the Heat have outscored challengers by 10.5 points per 100 ownerships after halftime. Last year, while taking the Celtics to 7 videogames in the conference finals, they outscored challengers in the 2nd half of videogames by 7.3 points per 100 ownerships. Two seasons earlier, throughout their run to the Finals in the bubble, that mark was 7.4.

After Game 1, Heat center Bam Adebayo was asked what altered at halftime. 

“We have a excellent video group, and they put up all the statistics at half,” he stated. “[They] essentially revealed us where we were incorrect and how we can enhance in the 2nd half.” 

That list was long. The Heat had gaveup 40 points in the paint. The Celtics had torched their zone defense. Celtics star Jayson Tatum was too comfy (18 points). The Heat weren’t taking care of the ball. Also — and most unpleasant — their energy was doingnothave. 

But it’s one thing to determine the concerns. The genuine ability — one which Spoelstra plainly has — is being able to interact them to a group throughout a videogame’s 15-minute halftime window while laying out a strategy of how it can be repaired. 

For the Heat, this implies leaning on the collective environment cultivated by Spoelstra. 

“After enjoying [the film] and talking to the coaches,” Adebayo stated Wednesday night, “we are truthful with one another, appearance each other in the eye and state how we feel and what we requirement to get done.”

What was disconcerting about their dominant 2nd half in Game 1 is simply how numerous modifications the Heat were able to make. It wasn’t simply that their jumpers began falling. They upped their energy level (they rebounded 4 of their own 9 missesouton in the 3rd quarter), and stopped tossing the ball all over the court (just 3 turnovers in the 2nd half, compared to 10 in the veryfirst). They kept the ball out of Tatum’s hands (he didn’t effort a single shot in the 4th quarter) and kept the Celtics out of the paint (just 22 points gaveup in that location). They took the Celtics out of their videogame by slowing the speed. 

Just appearance at how Tatum explained what occurred to his group throughout the 3rd quarter. 

“We provided up some shift baskets, they got in a rhythm, they were comfy,” he stated. “We didn’t close out to shooters. We offered up some offensive rebounds.”

Of course, this being the Heat, their own gamer had a more concise method of summingup their second-half efficiency. 

“It’s simply a mindset,” Heat guard Gabe Vincent stated. “Sometimes you have to get punched in the mouth to wake up a little bit.”

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA author for FOX Sports and the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports. Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.