Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum reveals one thing that helped them win series comfortably over Miami Heat

CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning wrote about how the Celtics defense markedly improved against the Heat in this series.

Tatum, who was questioned for his toughness, shared that the boost in their defensive effectiveness had plenty to do with how they approached each game:

“Being honest with ourselves, what’re team’s messages, what’s their game plan to beat us? And it’s to pick up the pace, the pressure, be more physical, clash the glass, do all the intangible things,” Tatum said. “We know that. Why don’t we flip the script and be the tougher team? … while still being the talented team that we are … the world we live in, there’s gotta be something wrong with every team.

“That’s what they like to say and you can see how talented we are. I think it’s lazy or easy to say teams can out tough us. I never understood that. What’s the definition of tough. Having the louder guys on your team? That s--- don’t make you tough … playing the right way, showing up every day to do your job. I think that’s tough.”

The mentality was evident in how the Heat shot throughout the series. Miami averaged 46.5% from the field and 37.0% from long distance, but they were neutered to 43.8% FG and 32.9% 3FG throughout the series.

While Jimmy Butler’s absence had plenty to do with their shoddy shooting, it’s also evident that the Heat just didn’t manage to break the Celtics defense as much as they would have liked.

Now that the Boston Celtics have avenged their Eastern Conference Finals loss last year, they can now focus on mowing down the rest of the Eastern Conference and return to the Finals.