As last year’s Boston Celtics team walked off the TD Garden court after Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, they hung their heads. The Miami Heat’s trophy ceremony took place over the center-court leprechaun, and the city of Boston left disappointed.

Memories of Caleb Martin’s monster shooting performance dance in the heads of Celtics fans to this day. But that wasn’t the only problem for Boston in the series.

Miami’s zone defense felt impenetrable at times. The Celtics couldn’t find a way around it, looking helpless at times. So, the following offseason, Brad Stevens traded for one of the best zone-busters in the league in Kristaps Porzingis.

As the Celtics get set to take on the Jimmy Butler-less Heat in Round 1 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the big-man duel will be the one to watch. While Porzingis looks to alter the Celtics’ offensive approach for the better, Bam Adebayo will be left trying to pick up the pieces in Butler’s wake.

That head-to-head battle should be incredible to watch unfold, but the more intriguing storyline should be how both sides help their respective big men get shots.

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Porzingis played well when guarded by Adebayo. In 13:57 of matchup time across three contests, the Latvian shot 4-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from distance. However, he did most of his damage when Boston got him switched onto a lesser defender.

When guarded by Kevin Love, Porzingis shot 3-of-5 from the field and 1-of-2 from deep. With Haywood Highsmith on him, he shot 2-of-4.

But Porzingis’ real success came when the Celtics forced Tyler Herro to guard him. In just 1:53, Porzingis managed to shoot 5-of-8 from the field against the smaller Herro.

A similar story can be told of Duncan Robinson’s defense on Porzingis. While he only shot 1-of-2, he also earned four free throws against the Heat sharpshooter, sinking them all.

On the flip side, Adebayo put some work in against Porzingis this year. He shot 16-of-29 from the field against the Celtics center in 16:45. If Miami wants a chance in this series, they’re going to need all of that and then some. He found success bullying Derrick White, too, as the Heat center made five of his eight buckets in that battle.

But when Adebayo switched onto anybody else in Boston’s top-six, he got shut down. He shot 4-of-14 against Al Horford, 3-of-8 against Jrue Holiday, 1-of-4 against Jaylen Brown, and 2-of-5 against Jayson Tatum.

Erik Spoelstra is one of the best coaches in NBA history. He’ll find a way to get Adebayo in situations he likes. But when four of the opponent’s top six players guard your best player well, that’s not an easy task.

Meanwhile, on the defensive end, Porzingis’ role as a help defender expanded later in the season. With Adebayo leading the charge, it seems likely he’ll get that matchup, but should Mazzulla go to double-big lineups, Horford could take on that challenge while Porzingis cheats off the weakest shooter on the floor.

That said, having Porzingis in the paint has been a plus for Boston all year long. His rim protection saw a massive surge down the stretch, especially in the blocks department. Some of those numbers were a result of the aforementioned free safety defense, but he was standing up opposing bigs with a ton of success.

As for Adebayo, not enough can be said about his defensive talent. A perennial All-Defense lock, his ability to guard one through five will make him Spoelstra’s ultimate tool on that end in this series.

Should the Heat go zone, he’ll be running around to muck things up. If Tatum starts cooking, expect him to take on the assignment. No matter what, Adebayo will be there lurking. Ready to pounce.

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The other big men in the rotation shouldn’t be overlooked, either.

Horford’s three-point shooting was non-existent against the Heat in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. After shooting 44.6% from distance in the regular season, he only managed to make eight of his 29 threes (27.6%) in the ECF. Now, he’s fresh off a 41.9% three-point shooting season and looking to keep it rolling into the playoffs.

His defense should play a key factor in the series, too, as the Heat’s wing-heavy rotation could force the Celtics to play Horford up to the level.

Meanwhile, the Heat have an aging big man of their own off the pine in Kevin Love. After bullying Joel Embiid in the Heat’s Play-In loss, Love poured in 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds in their win over the Chicago Bulls.

The 35-year-old forward played the fewest minutes of his career this past season, yet the Play-In provided a twinge of belief that a more-than-effective playoff series could be on the horizon.

Joe Mazzulla, now with one more year of experience under his belt, will be put to the test from the jump. Spoelstra’s defensive schemes will undoubtedly be built to negate Porzingis’ newfound impact within the Celtics’ offense.

As he does that, Mazzulla and the Celtics will do what they have done all year: Attack mismatches. In all of their games against Miami this season, in which they went 3-0, this was the key. Highlighted by Porzingis’ dominant showing in little one-on-one time against Herro, Boston is hell-bent on finding a crossmatch they like and picking it apart.

Porzingis is the X-factor for the Celtics. Adebayo is THE factor for the Heat.

That’s the clash to watch this series.