Jrue Holiday drops hilarious truth bomb on Celtics’ defense: ‘Even the white guys play’

How Celtics turned the tides with team defense

In Game 2, Miami shot 49.3% from the field and went an incredible 53.5% from 3-point land. Conversely, the Heat shot 41.6% from the field in Game 3 and only converted on 32.1% of their 3-point attempts.

Part of this decline was a regression to the means, but it was also the Celtics relying on their defense to do the heavy lifting rather than their 3-point shooting.

When asked about what the C’s did best on defense, head coach Joe Mazzulla seemed to like it all.

“Individual defense. Team defense. I thought Jrue was great. I don’t know when he got his first shot, but I thought he dictated the defensive tempo of the game. I thought Tatum answered the call defensively. I thought [Porzingis] and Al [Horford] did a great job.”

“I thought everybody—I thought our bench came in and really pushed the pace on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla continued. “So, just connected, tough, physical, individual defense. Team defense.”

Celtics star Jayson Tatum specifically shouted out his squad’s defense as well during a post-game interview with TNT.

“That’s where we’re gonna win games at, the defensive end,” he told NBA insider Chris Haynes. “Can’t always rely on somebody getting hot … if you can get stops, you can figure it out.”

Boston utilized the long ball to demolish opponents throughout the regular season (and in Game 1). However, the Celtics shot under 30% from beyond the arc in Game 3 and still managed to prevail thanks to their defense.

They’ll need to continue to win in different ways in the postseason, which is a much more gritty version of the 82-game regular season. Miami might throw some new defensive schemes at Boston too, as Game 4 tips off at the Kaseya Center on Monday night. So, the C’s will have to be ready for whatever comes next on both ends of the floor in order to leave South Beach with a 3-1 series lead.