The Boston Celtics delivered an offensive masterclass in Miami to cool down the playoff hopeful Heat.
Their 147-point performance marked the second-highest scoring output of the season, while their explosive 53-point first quarter stands as the most the team has recorded in any quarter since 1970.
Boston surged into rhythm early, with Jaylen Brown accounting for the team’s first 11 points, and sustained that offensive flow through the defensive attention commanded by Brown and Jayson Tatum, disciplined execution, and exceptional shot-making.
Here are some of my favorite plays from last night’s win that exemplify those things.
First offensive possession of the game sees Boston go to “Ram Single” for Brown.
Over years of watching the Celtics, I’ve come to appreciate how revealing their opening possession can be in signaling their intentions. In this one, they did a ton of mismatch hunting with most of it going at Tyler Herro.
Celtics start this play with “Ram” action, which is when someone sets an off-ball screen for someone to go set a ball screen. Tatum will do that here for Neemias Queta.
After that happens Tatum gets the ball at the top and the spacing is just tremendous for Brown and Sam Hauser on the other side.
The “Single” part of this play call is Hauser setting a single pin down screen for Brown.
When the Celtics initiate off-ball screening actions for the Jays in pursuit of mismatches, one of two outcomes typically unfolds. Either a good screen forces the switch, and the Jays get a matchup they prefer, or the player they are hunting, avoids the switch thus taking themselves out of position to help their teammate giving up a two on one.
Hauser delivers a well-placed screen on Andrew Wiggins, and with Herro staying back, Brown is able to come off it unimpeded into open space. With Wiggins trailing the play, the likelihood of him biting on a pump fake increase, an opening Brown exploits to attack the rim.
Next, Boston is able to manipulate Herro as a tag defender.
The start sees Queta try to set a “Flare” screen for Tatum early in the shot clock. A Flare screen is an off-ball screen in between the passer and the recipient.
But here, Tatum rejects the Flare which causes Bam Adebayo to switch onto him and off of Queta.
Boston then flows into a pick-and-roll between Neemias Queta and Derrick White. As the action unfolds, Tyler Herro is positioned in the corner defending Hauser; in this context, he serves as the low man and the designated “tagger.”
A tagger or tag man is the defender (usually in the corner) that is responsible for coming over and stopping the roller in a pick and roll from getting an easy layup. Herro’s job here is to step over into the lane of Queta to give his teammate enough time to get back and or stop the pass from going there.
The hard part about this is that he still has Hauser in the corner. So, the moment White sees Herro step over like this…
He fires it back to Hauser causing a reckless closeout and a one dribble pull up.
Here they go to “Zoom” action for Tatum.
We see this play start the same way as the last one, but this time Tatum uses the Flare screen from Queta. He then stays on the move, looping all the way around to get into the Zoom. Zoom is a dribble handoff where someone receives an off-ball screen to get the handoff.
Another good screen by Hauser gets Tatum space from the defender, and he’s able to knock down the three.
Celtics go to Zoom again here but add some flair to it.
Here they go to “Zoom Flare” which is a wrinkle I haven’t seen them combine together much this season.
Baylor Scheierman points Luka Garza to Brown to start the Zoom action.
This play forces Herro to switch onto Brown after the screen, but you can see Brown’s original defender, Pelle Larsson, stay close to him for a second too long creating a two on one.
Noticing this, Garza sets the Flare for Scheierman making it impossible for Larsson to get back, and he hits the three.
Here Boston goes to “BLOB Stagger Reject.”
BLOB is an acronym for Baseline out of bounds. This just refers to plays that start with the ball being inbounded on the baseline. The Stagger part of this is named after Staggered screens which are two of the same off ball screens with space between them.
The goal for this play is for Payton Pritchard to receive the Stagger screens and come off for a three like Brown did later in this game.
But one of my favorite things to say about the Celtics offense is that they do a great job of not being robots. So even though they have a set play called, they are always alert and able to play off what the defense presents.
So, when Hauser sees the defender go under Queta’s first screen to get to the other side, he saw a perfect opportunity to reject the regular BLOB Stagger play and come out to the corner for a three.
To start the second half Boston goes back to mismatch hunting using a “UCLA” cut/screen to get Tatum switched onto the smaller Davion Mitchell.
A UCLA cut is a cut off a high-post back screen for the player who passes from the top of the key to the wing.
Here is a more detailed look at it I did last season seeing the Spurs run it for Victor Wembanyama.
Having Pritchard set this screen is important because if it is good enough, it will force the smallest defender on the floor to switch onto Tatum. Mitchell tells Wiggins to switch, and Tatum takes advantage of it.
Here the Celtics use the Flare screen again to get a score.
Garza sets a flare screen for Brown, triggering switches that benefit both players. While Brown draws a late closeout from Adebayo, it is Garza who capitalizes most effectively on the mismatch. After setting the screen, he rolls straight to the rim, leaving Wiggins trailing the play. This positioning affords him an ideal opportunity to secure the offensive rebound and finish the putback.
Here the Celtics bust the Heat zone by putting Tatum in the middle.
There was a time when the Miami Heat’s zone defense posed a persistent challenge for the Celtics. That period, however, is now firm in the past. With most zone defenses, the weak spot is the middle as you can see here.
As Brown gets the ball, Tatum walks right to the middle, drawing the attention of Bam Adebayo. Which means that he is no longer next to Queta. Tatum sees that and dumps it to him for the dunk.
Lastly, we have Boston going to “Gut Zoom.”
Gut action is when someone cuts from under the basket to the top of the key to receive a handoff.
Here Hauser starts under the basket and runs all the way to the top to score off the zoom action.
This performance was more than just a high-scoring night; it was a clear statement of intent. Boston’s blend of discipline, spacing, and star-driven gravity continues to dismantle even the most deliberate defensive schemes.