Manhandled at home during Game 2, the Boston Celtics regained home-field advantage in their first round series of the play-offs, beating the Miami Heat on their home court (84-104) on the night of Saturday to Sunday . Boston, which finished the regular season with the best record of the 30 teams (64 wins, 18 losses) now leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled for Monday in Miami.
After losing the second game in Boston, the Celtics never trailed in this battle against the Heat, 8th in the regular season. “We played harder and we dictated the physicality and rhythm of the game,” responded Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, satisfied with the performance of his men. These are simple things that you have to do under high stress, high adversity. »
Jayson Tatum (22 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists) and Jaylen Brown (22 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists) finished as co-top scorers of the game. Kristaps Porzingis added 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks for the Celtics. For their part, the Heat again played without injured Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck) and struggled to score without them, even though Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Nikola Jovic and Tyler Herro added 15 points each.
Big first half for the Celtics
Boston built much of this success on its very successful first period. At the end of the first quarter, the Celtics, with a strong defense, already led 21-12, limiting the Heat to only 23.8% shooting, and 11% (1 of 9) at 3 points. “They were the most physical team tonight. They shook us, intimidated us on screens, everything. … You have to give them credit for that,” admitted Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
The Celtics further increased their lead with an exceptional second quarter (42-27), led by Jayson Tatum (13 points in the second quarter) and Derrick White (12 points) and shooting 65.2% from the field. period. Which allowed them to finish with a very significant gap at the break (63-39).
Boston increased its lead to 87-61 after three quarters, before managing in the final 12 minutes, finishing the game with 47.6% shooting, including a small 11 of 37 (29.7%) from long distance. .
