Despite a first-round sweep of the Indiana Pacers, the Boston Celtics weren't firmly blowing their adversaries out of the water. Each game was decided in the final minutes.

Yet, the prevailing "talking heads" takeaway is that the Celtics' chemistry issues are now fixed and they look like themselves.

Really? A four-game sweep of a banged-up, easy-to-guard Pacers squad is restoring our faith in the season's most disappointing team?

Their biggest test lies ahead, squaring off in the Eastern Conference Semifinals with the Milwaukee Bucks, the league's top team through the regular season and one featuring MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even if the Celtics have found their swagger, the task ahead of them is still a tall one.
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The question isn't so much "are the Celtics capable of beating Milwaukee?" as much as "can they consistently play well enough in a playoff series to do so?"

From Splash Mountain to their prized trade deadline acquisition, the Milwaukee Bucks are an offensive dynamo because of their shooting frontcourt.

Since joining the Bucks in February, Nikola Mirotic has taken 64.4 percent of his attempts from three, hitting 35.6 percent. Brook Lopez launches 65.1 percent of his shots from deep and gets 36.5 percent of them. 42 percent of Ersan Ilyasova's field goal attempts are treys, and he's above 36 percent as well. That trifecta is a nightmare matchup for teams that want to sag into the paint and blanket Giannis Antetokounmpo on drives.
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All three of these guys play what's traditionally known as the center position for the Bucks, the NBA's new most difficult team to defend.

Coaching is a lot like chess. You have to think several moves ahead, see the entire board and understand the value of each piece at your disposal. Anticipating your opponent's moves and trapping them in their own style is considered masterful.

Postseason basketball is beautiful for that reason. The players are the ones executing and making the heroics, but the coaches are the ones choosing the methods of deployment. In a series where adjustments are not only common but necessary, the tactical methods come to the forefront.
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We're already seeing some brilliant adjustments, daring strategies, or dilemmas with tough fixes that coaches have to grapple with as their series take shape:

Postseason basketball is insanely physical. While the referees swallow their whistles and allow more contact, aggressors become rewarded and the weak fade away.

Nowhere was that more evident than the second half of Game 1 between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers. A brutish and low-scoring contest, the game was decided in the third quarter, when the Celtics held their adversaries to a mere eight points.

Sure, the Pacers were also ice cold and missed the open looks that they got, but this was not an example of a game where a team simply missed a ton of shots. There were not many uncontested looks, and the Celtics deserve a great deal of credit for how they came out and defended.

Most importantly, it's about time. Boston has been looking for any kind of inspired play like this seemingly all season.
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Maybe they got it just in time.

In review of a long NBA season, I've decided to add all ten of my favorite ATO (after timeout) plays from the regular season.

Without further ado...

#10 - Orlando Magic Ram Alley Double-Level

PLAYOFF BASKETBALL IS HERE! Shout it from the rooftops, folks.

For those who enjoy watching the chess match between one coach and another, a playoff series provides the opportunity to see it unfold in a way no other league can offer. Coaches have time to adjust, with multiple games in a series and days off to build their scheme. After 82 games, few set plays, defensive tweaks or stylistic tendencies are truly going to catch anyone off guard.
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It becomes all about who can execute despite defenses working to take these very strengths away.
The Eastern Conference matchups provide especially great theatre from a tactical standpoint:

For those who enjoy watching the chess match between one coach and another, a playoff series provides the opportunity to see it unfold in a way no other league can offer. Coaches have time to adjust, with multiple games in a series and days off to build their scheme. After 82 games, few set plays, defensive tweaks or stylistic tendencies are truly going to catch anyone off guard.

It becomes all about who can execute despite defenses working to take these very strengths away.
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We looked at the Eastern Conference already, but the Western Conference is all about which team can serve as a threat to the Golden State Warriors. On the path to stopping them from their fifth-consecutive Finals appearance, many great matchups will determine who is the last squad standing:

The 2019 NBA Playoffs gets my inner X's and O's geek giddy.

For eighty-two games, every team perfects its playbook and fuels its offense for prime performance when the postseason arrives. The playoffs unleash a renowned scouting focus from defenses, preparing in greater depth for opponents and the playbooks they have built. In a world where everyone on the court knows what an offense is trying to accomplish, the best ones still execute and get to their sweet spots.

Part of the process includes identifying players that have specific actions designed around them, trying to get the most from non-stars while the defense and scouting reports focus on the top names.
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Here are three players who particularly fly under the radar thanks to the way their team's offenses are structured, but who can play a huge role in lifting their squad over the next few weeks.