The defense the Miami HEAT played in the first half of Game 1 barely looked like the defense that got them to 53 wins in the regular season much less the defense that got them to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Boston Celtics were coming off a tight turnaround from a Sunday afternoon Game 7. They were missing two starters in Marcus Smart, out with an injury, and Al Horford, ruled out hours before the game. And yet in those early quarters they were comfortable as ever. After the HEAT spent two series holding Trae Young and James Harden to a strictly outside-the-walls shot diet, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had little trouble getting into the middle of the floor.