Game 2 Keys for Celtics

Neither the Heat or Celtics played championship level basketball last game. The Celtics have a built in excuse with how injured they are, but that's not going away anytime soon. They need Game 2 if they have any shot in this series. The smart thing for them to do would be to tell Ryan Hollins to go full steam into Wade's knee and take him out of the rest of the playoffs. That would even things up a bit. But if they arnt gonna go that low here are a few keys that will help them win.

• Rondo with a score first mentality. He's one of the few advantages the Celtics have and he needs to try to score from the get go in order to make the Heat respect his drive and open things up for Celtics shooters later in the game. He can't be looking to get other players their shots right away, he needs to get his. Things will open up from there.
• Force jump shots. The only chance of slowing down the Lebron/Wade combo is by forcing them to take jump shots. In order to do this I'd like to see the Celtics put their bigs (KG/Bass) on these two. Have them play a couple feet of Lebron and Wade to eliminate the possibility of getting beat of the dribble. If they take it to the hoop, the Celtics got the size on them. And if they take the jump shot, well the Celtics will live with that.
• Change it up. I realize the Celtics have limited options now with all their injuries. But they still need to keep trying different things. Their offense is frankly pathetic right now. If they didn't play championship defense they would have no shot at being in the position they're in. They're offense is basically two things right now. Give Pierce the ball and hope he does something or Rondo dribbling around the court until Bass or Garnett is finally open for an 18 footer, usually contested. They are so predicatable. Try going big, try going small. Put something unorthodox out there. How bout going small with Rondo, Pietrus, Pierce, Pavolvic and Garnett? How bout going big with Steisma, Garnett, Bass, Pierce and Rondo? The definition of insane is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. The Celtics are going nowhere with repeatedly sticking with the same lineup. They will lose if they try to matchup traditionally with the Heat. They need to make them uncomfortable no matter how unorthodox or crazy the lineup seems. Doc has it in him, but it will take a big backbone for him to sit Ray Allen like he should and give the unproven bench players their shot.

Even with all these keys the Celtics could still lose. The Heat are that good. Or rather Lebron and Wade are that good. And when guys like Mike Miller and James Jones are hitting 3's, they are impossible to beat. Either way the Celtics are a veteran bunch who will make every single game a grind, you can count on that.