I did not like the way Miami played game 2 and that immediately had me thinking Boston wins game three. However, I rewatched the game again and here's what I noticed.
Kevin Garnett rarely went in the post. That's his big advantage. I would say they would start to feed him down low more but KG is just not a post player and never was. He's gonna keep taking outside jumpers, which are butter, but he is not that strong anymore. Lebron can bully him on the glass.
Pierce can't get to the rim anymore. He is better off just taking that step back elbow jumper everytime, because when he drives, he usually gets blocked. He has no elevation anymore. I think PP can score 20+ tonight if he wants, but most of those are going to have to come from his jump shot.
Rondo unleashed in game 2. An adjustment, Wade and Lebron will guard Rondo for the majority of this game, not just in key moments. Chalmers will start on him, but when the rotations change and Battier comes in the game to guard Pierce, that's when I expect Wade/Lebron to take on that challenge. I don't expect them to get humiliated on the defensive end. There's no way Rondo will duplicate that performance with the Heat watching tape and correcting those defensive adjustments.
I think the strategy is to back off Rondo and then forcefully and sporadically crowd him at strange moments and cut off his vision to passing lanes.
Ray Allen is going to work even more in this game on the defensive end. Wade will have a good game. They've been deciding to trap Wade every time he touches the ball. It worked in the first half of game 2. But I don't trust that they will stick with that strategy. I just don't think Doc Rivers is that smart.
I said that Pietrus should guard Wade a lot through this series. It took Rivers til game 2 to figure that out. These coaches are not that smart. It took Scott Brooks 2 full games to figure out what I had said after the first half of game 1. My analysis that I wrote for game 2 in the Thunder series was an exact analysis for game 3 if you noticed because of his naivety.
Celtics are going to get all the calls tonight? You're not going to get calls if you don't know how to get to the rim. I expect the Celtics to do more of that tonight, especially Pierce an KG if they want a chance to win. I just don't think that they can do it in the 4th quarter when the game is tight. I trust the Heat to win in the 4th quarter and put a stamp on this series. Lebron will have a big game and so will Wade and I'm expecting Haslem to play well.