Despite another loss, Erik Spoelstra senses a shift. The Miami Heat competed fiercely, but the exceptional Boston Celtics shooting and defensive lapses proved too much to overcome.
Only five games remain on the regular-season schedule and the Miami Heat are currently at 10 in the Eastern Conference standings. Despite winning the three-point shooting battle, the team quickly fell behind against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, resulting in a 147-129 loss. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum finished with significant individual performances, combined for 58 points. Also, the Celtics received strong contributions from the supporting cast, such as Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, Payton Pritchard, and Luka Garza, all of whom scored in double figures.
The Heat have lost eight of the past 10 games, but coach Erik Spoelstra felt differently about the Celtics' loss specifically.
“This is going to sound crazy, but this is different than the other games that we’re talking about,” he said. “Our guys were locked in and competing. There was an exceptional level of shotmaking on [the Celtics’] part to start the game. We could have been stronger on balance to be able to take away some of the threes, but we were able to stay the course and get [the deficit] down to nine. It probably ended up being the shots that were inside the three. They shot a remarkable percentage. It just felt like they didn’t miss any pull-up jump shots from the area that you would like teams shooting from. I believe we outshot them from the three-point line. Turnovers, about the same. A lot of areas, about the same offensive rebounding, but the two-point field goals, they made a heck of a lot more than we did, either at the rim or pull-ups and all of that. It didn’t feel like we would outshoot them from the three-point line, certainly the way that game started. We really needed to have a better start to the fourth quarter, we weren’t able to do it. You have to credit them as well. They started making shots, we missed some shots during that stretch, and then it ended up being 16, 18 points [deficit] before we could do anything.”
The Heat had six players score in double-figures, including Davion Mitchell with a season-high performance: 21 points on 53.3 percent shooting, plus five three-pointers made, two rebounds, and seven assists in 40 minutes. However, it didn’t make a difference.
The remainder of the regular-season schedule consists of two home games and three on the road:
- Saturday, April 4: Vs. Washington Wizards
- Tuesday, April 7: at Toronto Raptors
- Thursday, April 9: at Toronto Raptors
- Friday, April 10: at Washington Wizards
- Sunday, April 12: Vs. Atlanta Hawks
Each game will be critical for the Heat, whether it’s the Play-In Tournament or miraculously reaching the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference to automatically make the playoffs.
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