Heat's Erik Spoelstra on Stopping Celtics' Tatum, Brown: 'Easier Said Than Done'

Hours before the start of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra understands the difficulty of trying to slow down the Boston Celtics' top two players.

Speaking to reporters after Wednesday's shootaround, Spoelstra called it "easier said than done" when asked about trying to contain Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown:

"You have to do your work early. Weakside defenders have to be in their spots early ... they're a very good driving team because of those two guys [Tatum and Brown] collapse your defense and then have spacing, and they're very disciplined with their spacing, with a bunch of 40% 3-point shooters. You got to scramble and make multiple efforts—there's no easy way, but there is a way. You have to commit to those kinds of efforts."

Tatum is coming into Wednesday's game fresh off one of the most impressive Game 7 performances in NBA history against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.

Going back to the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Sixers, Tatum has scored 67 points on 21-of-34 shooting (10-of-15 from behind the arc) in his last five quarters.

Brown doesn't have a single dominant performance like that so far in these playoffs, but he's been incredibly steady and reliable for the Celtics. The All-NBA second-teamer is averaging 24.6 points per game with a 54.1 field-goal percentage in 13 postseason starts.

Even though no one with the Heat would think about things in this way, they are playing with house money at this point.

This team lost a home play-in game to the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 7 seed and were losing to the Chicago Bulls with under four minutes to play in the fourth quarter before closing on a 15-1 run to earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

After disposing of the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks in the first two rounds, the Heat are set up to play the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in the past four years.

These two teams split the previous two matchups, with the Celtics winning last year in seven games. Miami comes into this game with a depleted roster that's missing Victor Oladipo and Tyler Herro, who were injured in the first-round series against Milwaukee.

Jimmy Butler, who injured his right ankle in Game 1 vs. the Knicks, hasn't been as efficient over his past four games as he was in the series against the Bucks. He averaged 24.5 points on 41.7 percent shooting with 6.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds in four starts after returning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Prior to the injury, Butler scored at least 25 points in each of his first six playoff games and was averaging 35.5 points per contest with a 58.5 field-goal percentage.

The Heat will need Butler to play he did against the Bucks if they want to have a chance at beating a Celtics team coming into this series at full strength.