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Our pal Brian Robb from CelticsHub (a TrueHoop affiliate) takes a look at how Boston has turned around its turnover problems at the start of the postseason:

During four games against Atlanta, the C’s have averaged just 12.5 turnovers per contest [compared to 14.8 per game during the regular season]. Now, that number can be somewhat misleading given the slower pace teams play at in the postseason, but here’s a number which is not. Boston has turned the ball over on just 12.7 percent of its postseason possessions, a substantial drop from its regular season mark of 14.7 percent. That 12.7 number would have placed them among the league’s elite (second place) over a full 66-game season in protecting the ball.

It is a small sample size, but for a team that has languished in the basement of the league in turnover percentage for nearly five years now, that’s nothing to sneeze at, especially in the postseason against a team in Atlanta with a good track record of forcing the issue defensively. So why have the Celtics’ fared so well in this department? Well, it starts with one guy generally, the point guard.

“It starts with me," said Rondo. "I have the ball in my hands a lot and Paul [Pierce] and I communicate a lot throughout the game saying that we need to take care of the ball. So that’s what we have been focused on in this playoff series, taking care of the ball and all five guys crashing the glass."

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MIAMI -- Just in case Celtics players could possibly forget, a reminder about valuing the ball was scrawled above a series of offensive plays on the whiteboard inside the visitor's locker room at American Airlines Arena Tuesday night.

Players really shouldn't have needed a reminder. Every recent trip to Miami has included a friendly reminder from Doc Rivers about the ball-hawking abilities of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Boston's coach endlessly stressing how the Heat thrive off easy buckets following careless turnovers.

And yet, the Celtics still went out and turned the ball over a whopping 24 times Tuesday night leading to 33 points for the Heat in Boston's 115-107 loss.

The Celtics snapped out of the holiday spirit and stopped being so darn generous in the second half, but the damage was done before the intermission as Boston gave up the ball 15 times for 23 points.

"All I told them at halftime was stop trying to do too much," said Rivers. "When you come off a pick and it’s not there, just make a simple pass. We told them that before the game: No crosscourt passes, and I think we had like nine of them in the first half. Five of them were in the air -- jump passes. I told them, 'You’re playing against Deion Sanders.' That’s what LeBron and Wade are, they are going to get every crosscourt pass. Even if it looks like the guy is open, they are going to get it, so don’t give them that opportunity.

"I really thought that’s what made [the Heat] comfortable. All the turnovers. It was a layup drill [in the first half], they were shooting 67 percent at halftime, and I told our guys, I didn’t know if our defense was good or not, because we never played it. We were always in transition. You’re never going to beat that team turning the ball over. And you’re never going to beat that team in a race. We almost did, but you can’t."

If Miami wasn't cashing in turnovers for easy baskets, they were thriving in transition and making the entire game a track meet. The Heat shot a ridiculous 90 percent in transition on Tuesday, making 9 of 10 attempts, according to ESPN Stats and Info. In fact, Miami's own clumsiness was its only obstacle, scoring 23 points in 21 transition plays, hindered only by eight turnovers.

Even still, it was Boston's turnovers that might have been the story of the game.

"It just starts with our turnovers -- I know I had too many tonight," said point guard Rajon Rondo, who accounted for seven turnovers, including one on a poor outlet pass in a one-possession game in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. "We just gotta do a better job of taking care of the ball, especially against a team like that. You can’t give those guys an easy look at the basket."

Added backup point guard Keyon Dooling: "I think we were trying to do too much. When you have a team as athletic as the Heat -- D-Wade and LeBron are very, very good weak side defenders -- and there’s air under the ball, they can run up under it. We gotta do a better job, we’ve been careless, we’ve been reckless."

In the hype-filled buildup to the Eastern Conference semifinal clash between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, turnovers were the talk of the town. And in the aftermath of the Heat's 99-90 Game 1 victory, the same held true, but for all the wrong reasons from a Boston viewpoint.

The Celtics knew they couldn't afford to turn the ball over against the Heat. They said so themselves in the three practices days leading up to Sunday's tilt. They knew the likes of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade would corral their miscues and feast on them. They knew they would have an immensely difficult time vanquishing the Heat if they handed them extra possession after extra possession.

But knowing didn't stop them from doing it. The C's handed the ball over 14 times -- certainly not an egregious amount, but many were the unforced, make-you-want-to-pull-your-hair-out miscues that Boston cannot afford over the course of this series. They were the ones that were mostly preventable. Worse off, they came at inopportune times, particularly in the first frame when the Celtics were attempting to establish a rhythm and a pace after having not played for a whole week, and over the final seven minutes, when the C's were attempting to claw back from a double-digit deficit without Paul Pierce who picked up two technical fouls earlier in the period and was ejected.

Miami simply played the part everyone knew it would play: It took Boston's handouts and converted them into 26 points.

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WALTHAM, Mass. -- Despite a spotless record in their first-round sweep of the New York Knicks, the Celtics aren't turning a blind eye to the areas in which they could have performed better. The C's know they turned the ball over too many times for their own good (nearly 17 giveaways per game, which translated to an average of 18 Knicks points per contest), and those miscues, coupled with an increased effort in the rebounding column, have been highlighted as two major components of their second-round duel with the Miami Heat.

"Rebounding and no turnovers," said Glen Davis when asked what first came to mind about Boston's matchup with Miami. "If we rebound, [don't commit] turnovers, and just play simple basketball, it's going to be hard to beat us."

Added Paul Pierce: "I'm sure that's going to be a big emphasis, talking about our turnovers. They're a track team once they get out in transition, it's hard to keep up with them, so you don't want to turn the ball over. And another thing for us is going to be our rebounding, how well we're going to be able to rebound in the trenches on the defensive end. That's been something we've been inconsistent with, but I think we've been a lot better since the playoffs started and we're going to have to continue that trend."

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On the heels of the Celtics' four-game sweep of the Knicks in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, we examine specific areas of Boston's postseason play and how it might affect the team moving forward. In the fourth installment of Series Takeaways, we break down Boston's turnovers:

Watching the Celtics turn the ball over 12 times in the second half of Sunday's 101-89 Game 4 victory over the New York Knicks was frustrating, but not exactly surprising. Committing lazy, careless turnovers at inopportune times has been a nasty habit of Boston's ever since the 2007-2008 season. Fortunately, the C's were able to overcome their turnover woes and close out Game 4 by displaying admirable poise over the final seven minutes.

The numbers weren't pretty, though. The Celtics averaged 16.7 turnovers per game over the course of their four-game sweep of the Knicks, committing 18 or more in three of the four games. The Knicks took advantage of Boston's miscues by scoring a total of 72 points off turnovers in the series, good for an average of 18 points per game.

The Celtics boasted a 17-point halftime lead in Game 4, and shot 52.6 percent in the third quarter, but thanks to some hot shooting from the Knicks in the third frame (52.2 percent), coupled with five Boston turnovers, New York was able to claw back to within 10 points heading into the fourth quarter. As opposed to cruising to another easy victory, the Celtics were going to need a valiant fourth quarter effort to hold off the storming Knicks.

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Celtics coach Doc Rivers pointed to a season-high 25 turnovers as the key in allowing the Golden State Warriors to rally from an 18-point deficit for a 103-99 triumph at Oracle Arena.

"I told the guys [at halftime] that we had 58 points with 15 turnovers -- that's a miracle," said Rivers. "Typically, if you have 15 turnovers, you have maybe 35 points. The fact that we had 58 points with that many turnovers was amazing. But you can't have turnovers against them. They score too quick and too easy. Honestly, that was the difference in the game.

"We were up 18 in the first quarter -- that happens. Eighteen points doesn't mean much, they're an offensive team and we knew they'd get back in it. It was more the 25 turnovers that turned the game around."

Two games after having a season-high eight turnovers against Orlando, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo had his second-highest total of the season with six giveaways. It slightly tempered a night in which he poured in a season-high 30 points and dished out 15 assists.

Boston's starters combined for all but four of the 25 turnovers (the rest going to Glen Davis).

The Celtics hadn't turned the ball over more than 18 times in a game before Christmas, but have 56 turnovers in the first three games of this road trip, including 20 against the Magic.