BOSTON — Celtics guard Marcus Smart didn’t feel the Heat made any major adjustments to spark a monumental third quarter for Miami in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.
Instead, Smart put it on the Celtics for not responding on the defensive end and shrinking to the Heat’s well-known physical play in the pivotal quarter, where Miami outscored Boston, 46-25.
Smart didn’t hold back, either, calling out his teammates for their lack of physicality following a 123-116 loss at TD Garden that puts the Celtics behind 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.
“I mean the only thing we need to adjust to is picking up our physicality and playing some damn defense,” said Smart, who finished with 13 points and 11 assists in 34 minutes. “It’s the only thing they switched. They didn’t change anything from the first half that they weren’t doing. They just upped their physicality and that was it. Nothing tactical, X’s and O’s. Just coming out and guard your yard. And they scored 46 in that third and they got going and they made us pay and it led into the fourth quarter.”
Standing up to Miami and not letting the Heat gain a physical edge was on the mind of the Celtics. But yet they veered away from that plan as the Heat got whatever they wanted in the second half, starting in the third quarter. The Heat erased an early 12-point deficit in that stanza to lead by 12 points heading into the final frame. And due to Boston’s lack of answers, the Celtics are now staring at an immediate hole.
“Just defensively, our physicality,” Smart said. “We had a game plan to come out and be very physical. First half we did a pretty good job, second half we didn’t. When you’re playing against a team like Miami and you don’t come out and execute the game plan, they make you pay.”
