Celtics take care of the Heat winning 108-89 on the second night of a back to back
On Monday night in Boston the Celtics would take on the Miami Heat on the second night of a back to back with both teams banged up. The Celtics would be without Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday and Sam Hauser. While the Miami Heat were without Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love, Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic and Josh Richardson.
With both teams not at full strength on Monday night Boston was getting back Derrick White and Jaylen Brown who missed yesterday’s game in Cleveland. A huge boost for a Celtics team that let up 43 points in the 4th quarter to the Cavs. Boston would look to get back in the win column against a Heat team with a myriad of injuries.
First Half:
Miami would get out to a quick 7-0 lead but in Celtics fashion they would answer immediately with an 8-0 run of their own to take a very early 8-7 lead. Boston would start to find their legs after coming out a little slow going on a 14-2 run to take a 16-12 lead. Jayson Tatum would play the entire first quarter for Boston scoring 5 points and adding 5 boards and an assist. The Celtics got a somewhat unexpected scoring boost from Luke Kornet in the first with Kornet adding 6 of his own helping Boston take a 28-25 lead after the first.
Miami was led by Tyler Herro in the first who scored 9 of Miami’s 25 points on 3/6 shooting. The Heat would need big man Bam Adebayo to step up though with Porzingis and Horford out if Miami was going to have a chance at winning this one. Payton Pritchard’s 6th man of the year campaign would continue in this one with Pritchard leading Boston with 13 points through the first quarter and a half. The 3 point specialist would hit his 3rd of the game with 7:19 left in the second to give Boston a 42-31 lead.
Boston would go on to outscore the Heat 32-20 in the second quarter, giving Boston a 60-45 lead at halftime. The Celtics were somehow running away from the Heat even with Jayson Tatum struggling in the first half. Boston was led by Jaylen Brown returning from a one game absence due to illness. Brown was his usual assertive self and him and Derrick White were having their impact felt on the defensive end all night.
Second Half:
The Celtics offensive barrage would continue in the third quarter outscoring the Heat 20-14 through the first 10 minutes of the quarter. Extending Boston’s lead to 80-61 with 1:22 left. Boston was doing all this while having 9 turnovers in the quarter playing pretty sloppy basketball. However that’s just the margin of error for the Celtics these days, their talent outweighs their mistakes and they’re able to blow teams out even on off night.
Jaylen Brown was up to 29 points 7 rebounds and 3 assists on 8/21 shooting leading the way for the Celtics. While Miami only had two scorers in double digits to this point Jaquez and Herro who had 32 combined points. A noted emphasis from Joe Mazzulla in recent weeks has been 25 point quarters for the Celtics defense. Mazzulla has made a point to mention it multiple times that the Celtics want to hold teams to 25 points in each quarter and consider it a win when they do so. Well tonight they were getting wins in every quarter through 3.
Miami had scored 25 in the first, 20 in the second, and 18 in the third trailing Boston 85-63 after 3. The Celtics offense is often discussed but they are one of the best defensive teams in the league and it was on full display tonight. The Celtics can overcome a rough shooting night with great defense and they were getting just that against the Heat.
The Celtics defense was getting a huge lift from Luke Kornet who got the start tonight and matched his career high with six blocks through three quarters. Another bright spot for the Celtics was yet again the play of Payton Pritchard who notched his 4th consecutive 20 point game. The Celtics would lead 100-72 with 7:51 left in the game and it was all but over for Miami.
The Celtics would empty their bench in the final minutes with the game decided. Boston would go on to win 108-89 keeping them securely in 2nd place in the East behind the Cavaliers. This game was more about Boston finding it’s defense and showing their team depth over an injury riddled Heat team that looked lost all night.
