The Boston Celtics are staring down a must-win situation as the Eastern Conference Finals reach a pivotal moment. Much like a tense BD Cricket Match where every over could decide the outcome, this Game 5 is a tipping point, and head coach Brad Stevens knows there’s no room for error. In Cleveland, the Celtics dropped two straight games, and returning to Boston for the so-called “King of the Hill” clash, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
LeBron James, as always, has been a major threat, but Stevens has responded with a chess master’s touch. One key defensive tactic has been cleverly “hiding” Terry Rozier from James’ isolation attacks. Each time Rozier ended up switched onto LeBron, Stevens would use Aron Baynes on the strong side to replace Rozier, sending him to help defense on the weak side. This adjustment limited LeBron’s ability to exploit matchups through one-on-one play.
Early in Game 4, James tried probing the Celtics’ new setup—pulling Baynes to the top of the key and hitting a step-back jumper before assisting Kevin Love for a three-pointer. Love also drew a double team and dished to Tristan Thompson for a foul at the rim. On the other end, Boston’s adjustments became more dramatic. Rather than going small as they did early in Game 4, Stevens deployed an unorthodox “triple big” lineup of Marcus Morris, Baynes, and Al Horford—drawing jokes from fans about whether two bigs were ever enough.
Yet the tactic worked. In the first half, when Morris was LeBron’s primary defender, Cleveland managed just 1-for-12 shooting in 15 possessions, with one turnover and only one shot attempt from James himself. Stevens adopted a defensive scheme similar to how teams guard James Harden—assigning one defender on the perimeter while anchoring the paint with a second rim protector, forming a multi-layered wall.
Stevens’ rotational discipline was evident. After experimenting with various lineups in Game 4’s first quarter, he seemed to settle on a core group featuring Baynes, sticking with that formula in Game 5. The defensive approach not only neutralized Cleveland’s strengths but also allowed Rozier to contribute off-ball without being targeted in isolation plays.
As they return to Boston, Stevens made another critical change: replacing Morris in the starting lineup with Baynes to bolster interior defense. This wasn’t arbitrary. While Morris did a solid job on LeBron in Game 1, James has since reasserted himself as the league’s most dominant player. The move signals Stevens’ urgency in crafting a fresh defensive approach—proactive rather than reactive.
Jaylen Brown hinted postgame that Boston’s aim is to “shrink the floor,” minimizing Cleveland’s driving lanes and tightening the overall game space. It’s a smart strategy—one that mirrors the kind of situational tactics you’d see in a late-over BD Cricket Match, where field placements and bowling variations are used to force errors and control momentum.
With everything on the line, the Celtics need a complete performance—not just from stars like Horford and Brown, but from every rotation player. Stevens’ ability to adapt on the fly will be crucial if the Celtics hope to reclaim the series lead and keep their Finals dream alive. Just like in a BD Cricket Match, where one over can define the outcome, Game 5 could very well be the Celtics’ make-or-break moment.