Throughout the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat were having their way with the Boston Celtics defense. A primary part of Boston’s struggles was their inability to contain Miami’s straight-line drives, especially when they came off of high pick-and-roll actions.
Fortunately, Joe Mazzulla implemented an adjustment that helped limit Miami’s effectiveness when attacking the middle of screening actions while also limiting the effectiveness of Bam Adebayo around the elbows. That adjustment was to position a defender around the nail (middle of the free-throw line) during half-court actions.
Primarily, that nail defender was a big man playing in drop, but there were times when Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum would undertake the role, utilizing their length and athleticism to close out, stunt, or blitz when needed.