Throughout the course of the NBA Playoffs, The Athletic’s NBA Data Analyst, Seth Partnow, will provide his expertise to analyze the things that stand out most to him from the previous day’s slate. You can find his Analytical Lookarounds here.
Miami 37, Boston 17.
That was the scoring margin in the pivotal third quarter as Miami took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. From Boston’s standpoint, it is up for debate whether the 37 or the 17 is the more concerning side of that equation — and they are, of course, related — but I want to focus on the defensive side, as the choices Boston has made and is now being forced to reevaluate about how to guard the Heat are illustrative of the strategic complexity that can make the game-to-game progression of a playoff series so fascinating to watch unfold.
Much of the damage was done by Bam Adebayo, who put up 15 in the quarter on 7-for-8 shooting, but given that all…
