By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The Miami Heat‘s primary defensive focus in the series against the Milwaukee Bucks was to shut down Giannis Antetokounmpo and stop him from getting himself involved in the game of his team.
Will the Heat employ a similar strategy to also contain Jayson Tatum, the Celtics‘ leading scorer in the playoffs? Goran Dragic believes that the Eastern Conference finals will demand a different kind of strategy due to the players that surround Tatum.
“It’s a little bit different. I still think Giannis doesn’t have so much help as Tatum,” Dragic said in a zoom call. “If you look, he’s got Kemba [Walker] and [Jaylen] Brown around [him]. He’s the leader of the team, no doubt. We need to prepare for him but we cannot just throw the whole defense at him and forget about the other guys.”
“Brown was huge for them, Kemba too. They have a lot of guys who feed off of him. He’s demonstrated that he’s an all-around player. He can make plays for himself, he can make plays for others. It has to be team defense.”
Dragic has been averaging 21.1 points, 4.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds so far in the playoffs while providing key veteran leadership for the Heat.
“It’s been great,” Dragic said. “I’m enjoying the moment, I’m enjoying this game. I feel no pressure, I’m just out there playing basketball.”