Through four games, the Miami Heat have exposed and exploited so many advantages against the Boston Celtics that it’s hard to logically pick the Celtics in Game 5 Wednesday night in Miami. A win and the Heat close out the series, and a Miami win seems as inevitable as David Caruso taking off his sunglasses and uttering a terrible one liner in a CSI:Miami episode.
And yet….
It’s just hard to write off these Celtics. They are prideful and no doubt they will not go quietly. They will battle. They have players — Paul Pierce, Ray Allen — capable of getting hot and basically winning a game single handedly.
But if they are going to win, they have got to fix a lot of things fast.
It starts with taking back the paint. Whether using dribble penetration (Game 4) or player movement on the weakside with good ball movement (Games 1, 2) the Heat have got their baskets in close. If you are going to beat the Heat you must make them jumpshooters (and in Game 1 Wade hit those anyway).
Also, the Celtics have not made the Heat pay for relatively small lineups (with Joel Anthony) at center. They have to find a way, and without Shaq.
As he did in Game 3, Kevin Garnett must dominate his matchup with Chris Bosh. He cannot play him to a standstill, he must win it and win it big.
They have to dominate the point guard battle. Which will be hard with the one-armed Rajon Rondo, but Mike Bibby is not good and Mario Chalmers is still someone Rondo should dominate. Well, healthy Rondo would. Theoretically (he didn’t earlier in the series before his left elbow injury). This was the Celtic’s clear matchup advantage coming in and they have not exploited it.
Boston needs to keep Miami out of transition. There are a lot of things that can be added to the list but this is enough for now.
On the road with their backs against the wall, the Celtics have to play their best game of the series to even have a chance.
But do you really doubt they can?