Miami Heat: Celtics don’t have Goran figured out.. just game planned for

The Miami Heat are set to do battle in Game 4 of the ECF on Wednesday. Some seem to think Boston figured Goran Dragic out entering Game 3 though.

The Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics are fairly even teams. Whereas the Boston Celtics do rightfully have the higher-end scoring talent, the Miami Heat make up for it with grit, determination, and versatility, and excellence in the other areas that aren’t putting the ball in the hole.

While most would quickly take the trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker as the best trio in the series, I could make an argument that depending on the philosophy of your team, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Goran Dragic are the better trio for your team.

While that’s neither here nor there at the moment, the third wheel in the Miami Heat’s trio is the topic of conversation today. For some reason, exiting Boston’s Game 3 victory over the Miami Heat, some seem to think that the Boston Celtic’s have Goran Dragic figured out.

I mean, after all, they did hold him to his worst game of the playoffs in Game 3 with only 11 points, five assists, and a rebound, or numbers that were still a click above Kemba’s worst game in the playoffs. That’s, again, neither here nor there though, or is it?

Well, that actually is the first thing that proves this notion of having Goran figured out to be wrong. Kemba Walker was held to just five points in a Game 6 loss to the Raptors by the Celtics in their last series.

By the science of those who think that the Celtics have figure Goran Dragic out, Kemba shouldn’t be making big shots now as the Raptors had figured him out, thus giving the blueprint to stopping him.

The Miami Heat need Goran Dragic at his best to be their best. Can that happen if Boston has him figured out?

You would say, “that was the Raptors”, but with the Miami Heat having all the tools they have, plus some might I add, they would be capable of doing whatever they did. That’s just the first point.

Secondly, when you think about the adjustment that was made heading into Game 3 by Stevens, having his defenders like Marcus Smart pick up Goran Dragic way before they had been doing so in this series, it presents more of an opportunity than it does to end one.

Whereas Stevens now has his guys not allow Goran Dragic to simply walk it over half court and into his sweet spots in the half-court, to set up his drives, jump shots, or distribution opportunities, it is now up to Coach Spoelstra to make the necessary adjustments to counter that.

It’s really as simple as that. Coach Stevens and his guys caught the Miami Heat asleep, without a plan, and butt naked in the middle of a game. They’ve now had three days or so to adjust to that and I expect to see different results in Game 4.

It really and truly is that simple.

Whether that be Dragic doing less of the bringing the ball up, to allow himself to get free and not make it as easy to pick him up straight up or whether that means extra stuff being done to get him free, like extra action or screening when he’s on-ball, Coach Spo and the Miami Heat will figure out how to get their Dragon spitting fire again.

They have to. In order for the Miami Heat to win this series and have a shot at an NBA title, he has to keep coming up as big as he has throughout the rest of the playoffs. Point blank, period.

So, while Saturday’s game wasn’t the prettiest, for any of the Miami Heat players, that was Saturday. With quite a bit of time to adjust, you can believe things will look different on Wednesday.