Celtics (0-1) at Heat (1-0) ECF Game #2 5/19/22

[colincb]

Boston Celtics @celtics6m

#NEBHInjuryReport update: Derrick White (personal reasons) - OUT

[Donoghus]

First child.

Good for him & his family.  Just unfortunate timing for us.

[RMO]

First child.

Good for him & his family.  Just unfortunate timing for us.

I know this will be a hot topic but i can't blame him.  Hate the timing but not the decision.

[jpotter33]

Ugh. Congrats to White and clearly the right decision for him, but man we can’t catch a break with these injuries and absences. Simply have to have Smart back tonight now.

[Donoghus]

First child.

Good for him & his family.  Just unfortunate timing for us.

I know this will be a hot topic but i can't blame him.  Hate the timing but not the decision.

Me neither.   Witnessing the birth of your child is much more important than some basketball game.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Sucks losing White, but I too would miss work for the birth of my first child. Can’t blame him. Absolutely need Marcus tonight

[Vermont Green]

No Derrick White, wow, that makes things tough but if we have Smart and he can play like Marcus Smart, I would not write this off.

Pritchard can play the back up guard (he did in Game 1 behind White).  We will have to play with Smart and Pritchard together at times to allow Brown to get some rest.  I am not that concerned in terms of the guard rotation but what that rotation does is limit how much Brown can play for Tatum to let Tatum rest.  Nesmith will need to play 10-12 minutes again.

Here is how I see it:

Guards (96 min):
Smart (36), Brown (42), Pritchard (24)

SF (48 min):
Tatum (42 min), Nesmith (12 min)

Bigs (96 min):
GWill (36 min), RWill (28 min), Theis (20 min)

I know this doesn't add up exactly but it means there there will be about 12 min of small ball, only one big. 

This is pretty much the same as last game except we hopefully will have Smart over White which should be an upgrade. This will be a tough win, we are playing Theis and Nesmith more than you would like (because of no Horford and White), and I guess Pritchard too, but overall, we are still not all that bad off.  If we don't have Smart, White, and Horford, may as well just rest everyone and hope we can win 4 of 5 when we have everyone back.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I don't blame White, but this series is shaping up as another "What Could've Been" story for the Celtics.

[radiohead]

Oh man, Neismith should really step up now. PP is probably gonna get a lot of DW’s minutes but if he becomes a defensive liability, I see Ime giving Neismith more run.

[bello_man09]

Oh man, Neismith should really step up now. PP is probably gonna get a lot of DW’s minutes but if he becomes a defensive liability, I see Ime giving Neismith more run.

I like neismith but having him play useful minute's is scary- when he shoots its ugly- but hes effort is there especially on the defensive end.

[bello_man09]

I never thought this series will be more stressful than the bucks series.

[Vermont Green]

I played around with MIA's big rotation line up results from last game.  It revealed some interesting things.  First, MIA played with 2 bigs for about 31 minutes (+12) and with 1 big for about 17 minutes (-1).  Here is how it broke out:

2 Big Line Ups
Adebayo + Tucker      27 min / +0
Dedmon + Tucker       4 min / +12

1 Big Line Ups
Adebayo                  11 min / -5
Dedmon                    6 min / +4

Miami was +16 with Dedmon on the court for his 11 min (there is some rounding on the minutes) and they were -5 for the other 37 minutes.  There has to be some adjustment that we can make to shore up that leak.  I suspect that Dedmon benefited from being on the court at the times when Butler was hitting shots but still, it we should not be losing ground to this extent when Dedmon is on the court.

[Who]

Thank goodness they don't have Lowry. We'd be in real trouble if they had Lowry with these absences.

[SparzWizard]

I played around with MIA's big rotation line up results from last game.  It revealed some interesting things.  First, MIA played with 2 bigs for about 31 minutes (+12) and with 1 big for about 17 minutes (-1).  Here is how it broke out:

2 Big Line Ups
Adebayo + Tucker      27 min / +0
Dedmon + Tucker       4 min / +12

1 Big Line Ups
Adebayo                  11 min / -5
Dedmon                    6 min / +4

Miami was +16 with Dedmon on the court for his 11 min (there is some rounding on the minutes) and they were -5 for the other 37 minutes.  There has to be some adjustment that we can make to shore up that leak.  I suspect that Dedmon benefited from being on the court at the times when Butler was hitting shots but still, it we should not be losing ground to this extent when Dedmon is on the court.

Just a common theme of role players having career nights against the Celtics but play like garbage against other teams because that's how the NBA is like 

[SparzWizard]

First child.

Good for him & his family.  Just unfortunate timing for us.

I know this will be a hot topic but i can't blame him.  Hate the timing but not the decision.

I would blame the personnel for not shoring up the roster and adding more key bench pieces for times like this (and getting somewhat abused like the previous series). This summer we need to add more bench depth, to be a part of the rotation.