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Malcolm Brogdon offers honest assessment of Celtics’ struggles against Heat: ‘Our identity has waned all year long’
"It's a miss-or-make league. So our defense has to be our calling card."
There are no shortage of factors that have led to the Celtics’ 0-3 series deficit against the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
But for guard Malcolm Brogdon, Boston’s lack of defensive fortitude has loomed large in a series where the Heat transformed from a stingy scoring unit into an offensive juggernaut.
“We haven’t been consistently great defensively all year long and that was the team’s identity last year,” Brogdon said Monday. “I think that’s slipped away from us. We’ve had spurts where we’ve been great defensively, but not consistently.
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“And honestly, we’ve struggled in every series we played. So, now we’re playing a team that’s playing as if they’re the best team in the league, and they’re just incredibly disciplined, incredibly consistent. And I think we’ve struggled with teams that are consistent on a possession-by-possession basis every night.”
In some respects, the Celtics have found themselves mired in an identity crisis at the worst possible time.
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During last year’s run to the NBA Finals, Ime Udoka preached a team-wide buy-in on defense, with Boston relying on timely stops to both snuff out opposing runs and spur offense down the other end of the court.
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Even though most of that supporting cast returned in 2022-23, Joe Mazzula augmented Boston’s approach by turning the Celtics into a unit that lives and dies by the 3-point shot.
With Boston’s offensive intentions centered around driving into the paint and kicking it out for an open shooter, the Celtics torched multiple teams in the regular season.
Boston ranked second behind Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in 3-point attempts per game (42.6) during the regular season. The Celtics set a new franchise record for most threes made (1,315), and posted the third-highest offensive rating in league history (118.0).
But a team so reliant on drilling long-range shots is also susceptible to plenty of regression and variance.
And against Miami, the bread and butter of Boston’s success has virtually disappeared.
Through three games against the Heat, the Celtics are shooting just 29.2% on 3-point attempts. Jaylen Brown and Al Horford are a combined 5-for-33 this series on 3-point chances, while Jayson Tatum went 1-for-7 from deep on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a Heat team that ranked 27th in the NBA during the regular season in 3-point percentage (34.4%) has connected on 47.8% of their 3-pointers over the last three games.
Ballgame.
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With Boston unable to punish Miami for deploying a 2-3 zone that locks down the paint, it’s been a recipe for disaster for Mazzulla’s roster.
“I think we’re a team that, all year long, has relied on making shots, and when we don’t make shots — our defense wanes, it slips,” Brogdon said. “And that’s something we’ve talked about. It’s something we’ve tried to work on. And it’s something we’ve been extremely aware [of], but it’s continued to be an issue for us.”
Of course, Miami has been aided by some absurd shooting luck. But Brogdon believes that Miami’s dominance over Boston through three games falls on the overarching theme of team identity. As the Celtics struggle to figure out what team they need to be, Miami has rarely fretted over its tried-and-true gameplan.
“I think it’s teams that have a strong identity,” Brogdon said of what has troubled Boston. “I think Miami is one of the teams, one of the few teams in the league — Miami, Denver, there are only a few of them that have a really strong identity and they play by it every single night. They’re super committed to it.”
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“For us, our identity has waned all year long, We’ve been trying to figure out who we are because I think we’re such a great, talented scoring team. But when we don’t make shots, we got to rely on our defense — and our defense isn’t consistent every night. So, playing a team that’s very consistent and disciplined, we struggle.”
With just one game separating the Celtics from a four-game sweep and a painful summer of regret, Brogdon believes the choice of identity is clear.
“I think defense should be the identity. I think when you get to the end of the playoffs, the Eastern Conference Finals, the [NBA] Finals — it’s the best defensive teams that are going to take that step forward and win a series,” Brogdon said. “I think we’ve seen that.
“Shots aren’t going to fall every night. That’s just the reality of the league. It’s a miss-or-make league. So our defense has to be our calling card.”
It’s a season-saving switch that’s easier said than done.
After all, the Celtics have spent the last seven months and 90+ games uprooting the foundations set down during that fruitful 2021-22 campaign.
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