To better their offense, Celtics must get Jayson Tatum in the middle of the courtTo better their offense, Celtics must get Jayson Tatum in the middle of the court .

Against Miami’s vaunted zone defense and even when guarded man-to-man, Jayson Tatum’s bag would run deep if Boston could get him in the mid-post more consistently.

The Boston Celtics are down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals in part because of their inability to consistently penetrate the Miami Heat’s now famous 2-3 zone defense. The team with several creative scorers has look stagnant and dumbfounded against a wall of defenders and now finds itself one game from elimination.

‘’At the end of the day, we got to find a way,’’ Kemba Walker said after the 112-109 loss in Game 4. ‘’That’s really all we can do. We can do it. It’s about pride. It’s about wanting to do it. Next game we got to come out and show that.’’

Boston has opted to attack Miami’s zone from the perimeter, where the Heat stack stud wing defenders Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, and Andre Iguodala to cut off penetration. To have any chance at this series, Boston has to think differently by letting their best player go to work where the zone is weakest.

“At this point, it comes down to this for Boston,” wrote CelticsBlog’s own CoachSpins before Game 3. “They need to either punish Miami for not guarding the middle, or put someone there that forces them to guard it, then creating open looks elsewhere.”