BOSTON — Nobody needs to hype up Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum to Erik Spoelstra. The Miami Heat head coach is well aware of the ability the All-NBA talent possesses.
Now it’s on Spoelstra and the Heat to find a way to slow Tatum down as Miami and Boston meet head-to-head once again in the Eastern Conference finals.
“Tatum is super unique,” Spoelstra said prior to Wednesday’s Game 1 at TD Garden. “That’s why he’s one of the best players on this planet. He has that attack nature, but he can also light you up from behind the line depending on how the game’s going. You have to compete more than anything. It’s not schematic — it is part of it. But when you’re dealing with great players you have to find a way to overcome it.”
The challenge of devising a defensive game plan for Tatum, and Jaylen Brown for that matter, on this heightened stage is nothing new for Spoelstra. The Heat and Celtics are squaring off for the third time in four seasons in the conference finals. With that annual up-close view of the Celtics stars, Spoelstra has seen growth in the games of both Tatum and Brown and knows he won’t exactly be able to recycle a game plan from previous matchups.
“If you’re in these kind of situations over and over and over, you just continue to find more confidence in different solutions, more experience,” Spoelstra said. “And they have a lot of pride being great players and they’re winning players. They’ve been through a lot of stuff together. And I think that stuff matters. They’re definitely different than they were four years ago.”
