Throughout the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals, it felt as though the Boston Celtics struggled to flow into any of their offensive sets. Where the Miami Heat ran action after action, the Celtics tended to stick to simple pick-and-roll sets, with the remainder of the team situated around the perimeter.
The more Miami scored the ball, the less fluid Boston’s offense became. Great shots were being passed up for good ones, wide-open looks for open looks. The offense that had coined the term “Mazzulla ball” appeared to be nothing but a distant memory.