New season, New focus on Getting Off To a Good Start

After a sluggish start to last season, the Celtics hope to continue learning from those struggles and not repeat the same mistakes as they take on an always-tough Miami Heat team tonight.

No matter who the player was, no matter the venue, the theme pushed by the Boston Celtics during the offseason was consistently on point.

As painful as it was for them to come up two wins short of an NBA title last season, even more depressing was the reality that the road to that point was made a lot tougher than it should have been, due to a pedestrian start to the season.

So in order to write a new ending to this season, the Celtics are mindful of the value of how it begins.

That mindset served the Celtics well in their 126-117 season-opening win at home against Philadelphia.

Boston is hoping for more of the same as they kick off a three-game road trip tonight at Miami followed by games at Orlando and Chicago on Saturday and Monday, respectively.

You can count Jayson Tatum among the Celtics looking to get off to a more successful start to this season.

"Last year, a lot of changes, new guys ... we didn't have an identity at the time," Tatum said. "This season, a lot of the same guys, we come in more familiar and we kind of know how we want to play."

While the Celtics certainly left room for improvement following the season-opening win, there were plenty of positives for them to take away from their first win of the season.

At the top of the list has to be the play of Tatum and Jaylen Brown who each scored 35 points in the win.

It wasn’t just the fact that they were scoring; but they did so in an extremely efficient manner (Tatum shot 13-for-20 from the field and Brown was 14-for-24) with points coming from all three levels of play. Even more impressive was in addition to delivering a strong scoring performance, both were strong defensively in man-to-man coverage as well as during defensive switches.

Their ability to be efficient scorers combined with strong play defensively, will bode well in their hopes of returning to the NBA Finals.

A big part of their strong play offensively was aided by their ability to score in transition. Boston had 24 fast-break points, the kind of production they are unlikely to maintain for the duration of the season.

But in doing so from the outset, it speaks to their ability to generate points off their defense. Combine that with a slew of scorers among the first unit as well as off the bench, and once again, the Celtics appear poised for another deep playoff run.

As good as the Celtics may feel about their play in the opener, Miami will present a different and in many ways, more daunting challenge.

They are led by Jimmy Butler, one of the better two-way wings in the NBA. The Celtics are likely to employ a slew of defenders on him. But the one to keep an eye on is Derrick White whose role this season with Boston will be even more significant than it was when they acquired him via trade in the middle of last season, from San Antonio.

"I love where he's at from a confidence standpoint. He's doing a lot of things," said Boston interim head coach Joe Mazzulla. "There's a reason why our offense is a huge strength, between his cutting, pushing the pace.

Alongside Butler, Miami has a strong inside-outside punch with center Bam Adebayo and wing Tyler Herro who signed a four-year, $130 million extension in the offseason.

Adebayo, an All-Star in 2020, will be a key to Miami’s success not only against Boston but this season. His scoring prowess has evolved since coming into the league in 2017, along with the kind of defensive versatility that will make those clear lanes to the basket by Boston against Philadelphia, a lot harder to come by.

As for Herro, he too has shown the ability to score in bunches and, no surprise, will be a prominent focus for the Celtics tonight.

Boston’s season-opening win only reaffirmed the Celtics status as one of the top title contenders in the NBA this season. Miami isn’t getting that kind of love yet. But a win against the Celtics tonight would certainly go far in the Heat also entering the conversation as one of the top teams in the East this season.