Thursday night the Boston Celtics were in town for another eastern conference matchup.
Davion Mitchell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. were both ruled out of the game vs the Celtics.
First time with this lineup ⤵️Andrew Wiggins & Tyler Herro came out early on in the 1st quarter firing 3s & hitting midrange runners to put the HEAT up 15-4 pretty quickly. The Celtics were having trouble on offense to start the 1st quarter.
Couper Moorhead tweeted on X, “Good time to note that Boston is 0-6 when shooting under 30 percent from three and 12-1 when shooting over 40 percent. They've opened 0-5.”
The HEAT were ready to defend their homecourt against the 3rd place Celtics. Bam Adebayo was orchestrating good offense, helping others get involved & attacking the basket himself.
Boston reserve Anfernee Simons got the Celtics back into the game with hot shooting off the bench with 11 points in 8 minutes in the 1st quarter.
The HEAT went up 19 early, but the lead was cut down to 36-25 after the first quarter against the Celtics. Adebayo had 10 points, three assists, two rebounds in the 1Q.
In the 2Q the Celtics fought their way back into the game with their offensive rebounding & 2nd chance points. The HEAT countered & went with a small lineup & pushed the HEAT lead back up to 10.
The Miami 19-point lead went down to six before the HEAT close first half up 64-54 on the Celtics. The HEAT looked good on offense, Adebayo with 17 points & Herro had 15.
The 3Q was back & forth as both teams were trying to get to their pace. The HEAT kept making plays & were steadily in front by 10 points or more the whole quarter.
The Heat pushed back up by 15 in the third period before taking 93-83 lead into the fourth on the Celtics. Tyler Herro & Norm Powell both had 20 points each & Adebayo had 19.
In the 4Q the HEAT came out flat on offense and the Celtics capitalized off of that & turned their defense into offense.
Celtics Gaurd Anfernee Simon’s’ hot shooting took the game over as Boston took the lead & kept pushing it further. The Miami HEAT found a way to lose missing 15/20 FGs in the 4th quarter.
FINAL: HEAT 114, Celtics 119
Powell: 26pts
Herro: 22pts, 3stls
Adebayo: 22pts, 5asts
Wiggins: 16pts, 8rebs, 4asts
Jakučionis: 12pts, 5rebs, 8asts
The Heat landed in the same spot against Boston as they were against Phoenix, and this time similar shots didn't fall.
But its putting yourself in that position, unable to hold another late lead, that puts you at the mercy of the make or miss.
Coup’s Takeaways:
Follow me on X (Twitter) if you can!
