Tim Bontempts introduces this article, mainly snips from interviews with this: "the Celtics know they are going to have to match Miami's intensity moving forward if they want to advance out of this series and return to the NBA Final..." Imo, that is the correct diagnosis: the "Heat" were more "intense" than Boston. But from the Boston coach to the players that message has been misinterpreted as being "more physical." Being pushed around by Miami is not how Boston lost games three or four. They didn't want it enough.

"We just had a good session that we looked at how physical they were, how aggressive they were at the start of the game," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said after Boston's practice Sunday afternoon. "We were kind of caught off guard by that. But I could have done a better job coaching us, preparing us for that. I mentioned it quite a few times, but the team did as well.

Why would they be "caught off guard", by either Miami's intensity or physicality?

"Miami, historically, since I've played against them for 10-plus years now, is they try to go harder and try to be more physical, and it wasn't a bunch of adjustments. It's increasing their physicality ... Marcus mentioned it before the game, Al mentioned it, I mentioned it, and so it was a little disappointing to get caught off guard like that with us knowing that's really what they're gonna go to, what they went to in Game 1. So something we have to get better at. We saw what they did, similar things we do to other teams, and ways for us to attack that and kind of combat some of their aggressiveness."

Wrong diagnosis but disagree. The underlying issue is still that they were "caught off guard" when they knew, coach and players alike, what Miami was going to do (even if they don't understand what Miami did).

...

"Stay level-headed," Williams said, when asked how the Celtics have managed to survive the peaks and valleys of the playoffs so far. "At the end of the day, no matter what happens, whether it's a big win or big loss, you have to play it the right way. We can't let it carry over. It's 2-1 right now and we play in front of our Garden fans and can make it 2-2. We have to come out there and not only be a little more physically dominant and be more conscious of what we are trying to accomplish.

Okay, well, I don't know which Williams said that, but if they think they have "survived" by "staying level-headed" they are more clueless than ever.