Via three quarters, the Celtics shot 50 % from the sphere led by Jayson Tatum (28 factors) and Derrick White (23 factors) regardless of lacking 4 rotation gamers. They appeared to have management over the sport, however within the 4th quarter, they solely scored 13 factors on 5/21 taking pictures and would lose the sport 98-95.
Bam Adebayo led the Warmth with 30 factors and 15 rebounds. Haywood Highsmith scored 15 factors off the bench together with 4 threes, and though Tyler Herro struggled many of the sport, he hit two clutch photographs on the finish, and Miami escaped with a three-point win.
Payton Pritchard performed 42 minutes and completed with 10 factors, 4 assists, and seven rebounds. Jayson Tatum’s numbers — 31 factors, 14 rebounds, 7 assists — had been nice, however he solely scored three within the 4th quarter and completed with seven turnovers. White had 23 factors and 6 assists however went scoreless within the remaining interval. Boston’s 13 4th quarter factors had been the bottom quarter whole of any sport this season.
The Celtics had been at a large drawback taking part in on a second night time of a back-to-back whereas lacking Jaylen Brown, Marcus Good, Al Horford, and Malcolm Brogdon. For Miami, Jimmy Butler was dominated out an hour earlier than tipoff, and maybe the handful of Celtic accidents influenced that call.
The Miami Heat haven’t performed like a championship contender by means of 48 video games this season. Their protection is elite, rating third within the NBA and first in January, however they’ve a soggy cornflake offense that ranks twenty eighth. They play gradual, can’t get to the free throw line, and guys like Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, and Victor Oladipo haven’t shot threes at an environment friendly clip. This was their fourth and remaining assembly, with the Celtics handily successful the primary two and narrowly dropping the third in additional time.
The Celtics trailed 30-32 after the first quarter regardless of holding the Warmth to 40 % taking pictures. Tatum performed all however 18 seconds and led the group with 13 factors. For Miami, all 9 gamers who performed scored, and Strus led them with 13 factors. He would have had extra, however foolishly tried to attain on Derrick “Perimeter Mutombo” White:
“He can’t leap over a small city telephone ebook.” A superb name by NBC Boston’s Eddie Home in simply his second sport doing shade commentary.
Bam Adebayo scored 7 factors to open the 2nd quarter and the Warmth jumped out to a 44-39 lead. Justin Jackson hit a nook three on the 6:11 mark, his first non-garbage time discipline purpose of the season. The Celtics trailed many of the quarter however went on an 11-0 run within the remaining two minutes to guide 58-50 at halftime.
The run began with back-to-back contested threes from Tatum and Pritchard. The following possession was a loopy sequence that started with Hauser blocking his second shot of the sport. Timelord bought the free ball and made a horrible outlet move that bought intercepted, however he proceeded to blocked a Strus layup try, then when Tatum bought the ball, he settled issues down and transformed an and-1 layup. Luke Kornet punctuated the run, diving onerous down the lane and ending the dunk to beat the buzzer, and the Celtics took an 8 level lead.
Tatum had an enormous first half, scoring 21 factors on 7/12 taking pictures with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Miami shot solely 32 % from the sphere and made just one basket within the final 5 minutes. Hauser was 0/5 in 17 minutes, however the eye take a look at confirmed he performed certainly one of his greatest defensive halves of the season, highlighted by this possession in opposition to Oladipo:
Derrick White’s three on the 9:12 mark of the third quarter gave Boston a 14-point lead. Apart from that, there wasn’t a lot scoring because the groups mixed for simply three discipline objectives within the first 5 minutes of the second half. It was a drudging stretch of bricks, fouls, and prolonged replay opinions.
Bam saved Miami within the sport, scoring 8 straight factors and deterring all photographs on the rim on protection. When he left the sport on the 2:23 mark, Kornet bought a dunk, Tatum discovered a driving lane for a layup, and White transformed an and-1 floater. However Miami lastly would warmth up (pun meant) offensively, as Oladipo hit two threes and Haywood Highsmith hit one, and Boston led 81-75 going into the 4th quarter.
Tatum had performed 32 out of 36 minutes and sat to begin the fourth. The Celtics wanted offense from someplace, and it began with Pritchard hitting a 3, then White discovered Robert Williams on an alley oop to provide Boston an 87-77 lead with 8:46 remaining.
However as we discovered from final 12 months’s excruciating Sport 7 within the convention finals, Miami doesn’t go down simple. They went on a 10-0 run that featured two Highsmith threes and a thunderous dunk from Bam. The sport was tied at 87 with 5:44 to play.
After the timeout, Bam hit an elbow jumper to provide Miami its first lead of the half, and on Miami’s subsequent offensive journey, Tyler Herro had the ball in a excessive decide and roll, and with Williams in drop protection, he had an open three-point try. Herro was having a dreadful night time, taking pictures 2/15 from the ground, however he swished this deep ball, and the Warmth led by 5 with slightly below 4 minutes to play.
Tatum hit an and-1 floater to interrupt the 15-0 run, and a Grant Williams aspect step three with 42 seconds remaining tied the rating at 95. However on the following play, Bam hit a free throw line jumper that proved to be the nail within the coffin, and the Warmth would win the sport 98-95. Pritchard had an opportunity to tie the sport with 0.6 remaining however his shot fell properly brief.
Miami didn’t play a very nice offensive 4th quarter — it was the Celtics who ran out of steam. The Warmth had a large bench benefit, outscoring the Celtics 39-10. Amazingly sufficient, that is the Celtics first loss on the second night time of a back-to-back, as they had been beforehand 7-0.
Boston subsequent performs the Knicks this Thursday night time at 7:30 pm EST.
