NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 17, 2023

Jayson Tatum

Boston Celtics

Game 1: Postgame

Miami Heat 123, Boston Celtics 116

Q. What happened in that third quarter tonight?

JAYSON TATUM: I think in the third quarter we gave up too many points. Sometimes we didn't get back, had some turnovers, spacing, defensive coverages that we kind of got mixed up on that we went over today in shootaround. A lot of things that we can control to be better at.

Q. Joe’s talked a lot about you guys adjusting on the fly, and you guys being open to adjustments, especially against this team that's switching it up so much. How much did you feel the need to adjust to some of the things they were doing, and did you think you did so effectively?

JAYSON TATUM: Yeah, I think we just gave up 46 points in the third, so that's defense and transition and offensive rebounds and not closing out the shooters. There's some things that we've really got to focus on and go over tomorrow at practice.

Q. Jayson, you guys have had a kind of history of -- Joe talked about letting go of the rope in the third quarter. Why is it that that's something that has continued to happen throughout the course of the season and in the Playoffs?

JAYSON TATUM: I don't know why, but I just know that, like I've said, we gave up some transition baskets, they got in a rhythm, they were comfortable. We didn't close out to shooters. We gave up some offensive rebounds.

In recent games, I'd have to go back and watch them, but tonight that's kind of what happened.

Q. This year, even going back to last year, home-court advantage hasn't been much of an advantage. You guys have about a .500 record at home in the Playoffs. Why is that not helping, having home-court advantage?

JAYSON TATUM: I don't know. I don't know why.

You've still got to play the games. You've still got to make plays, regardless if you're at home or away. The court is the same, it's one ball, three refs and two baskets. I don't have an exact answer why we're .500 at home. We've just got to be better.

Q. You guys struggled a bit offensively down the stretch, execution-wise what were they doing to kind of take you guys out of a rhythm there do you feel like, and you personally, you weren't able to take a shot in the fourth quarter. Were they doing anything special to deny you?

JAYSON TATUM: We've got to play with more pace. I think in the third quarter we kind of played too slow, mainly because we weren't getting stops. In the fourth quarter we made a couple runs, got to push the ball, and those go hand in hand with getting stops and getting out in transition. So, it starts on the defensive end. Just play with some more pace, play a little bit faster.

Q. Joe called that timeout with like three and a half minutes left in the game, said he wanted to figure out you guys' spacing, then you came out and threw the ball away and Jimmy stole it and you had a couple of up-and-down travels. What was Miami able to do to get in the way of you guys' spacing, and why do you think you had those travels?

JAYSON TATUM: Yeah, I turned the ball over, threw it to Jimmy. That was on me. Doing a shot fake, I just got sped up a little bit. Just got to slow down a little bit in those moments.

Q. Philly also was able to make you guys uncomfortable with their speed in Game 1. Miami kind of did the same thing tonight. How were you guys able to adjust to find your pace against Philly, and how do you think you can do that against Miami?

JAYSON TATUM: We're going to have practice tomorrow, watch film, we're going to talk about it, discuss the things that we did well, the things that we can do better, and come out and execute better on Friday.