When Thursday night began, the Celtics looked like a team eager to atone for a disappointing end to Game 1 of these Eastern Conference finals. Kemba Walker was cooking, the bench was producing, and Miami’s defense didn’t seem to be much of a nuisance at all.
But Boston crumbled in the third quarter, as it watched what was once a 17-point lead flip into a 7-point deficit. And although the Celtics one fourth-quarter push, the Heat responded with another one, too, and held on for a 106-101 lead that gives them a 2-0 series lead.
Walker led the Celtics with 23 points and Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum added 21 apiece. The Celtics lost despite shooting 50 percent from the field.
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Despite a dismal third quarter in which they were outscored, 37-17, the Celtics pushed back into position to win thanks for a strong stretch of defense. A 3-pointer by Walker capped a 15-2 run and gave Boston a 94-89 lead with 4:26 left.
But the Heat responded with a quick 10-1 run that ended when Jimmy Butler came up with a steal — Boston’s 19th turnover — and fed Jae Crowder for a layup that made it 102-95.
The Celtics made a final push when Brown hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second pulling Boston within 104-101 with 48.7 seconds left. After a Heat turnover, Brown got an open look from the left corner but it was off, and the Celtics would get no closer.
Observations from the game:
▪ The Celtics appeared to be on the ropes early in the fourth quarter. A Crowder 3-pointer stretched Miami’s lead to 8, and then Brad Wanamaker threw a careless inbounds pass that Miami’s Derrick Jones stole. But the Heat were unable to convert a seemingly simple chance, and then their offense stalled mightily after that.
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▪ Coach Brad Stevens put rookie Grant Williams in to play small-ball center as the Celtics' defense locked in during the fourth quarter, and it was effective. Williams is just 6 feet 6 inches, but he stands his ground in the paint.
▪ Tatum attempted just two 3-pointers in the game. Not nearly enough.
▪ There was a big swing midway through the third quarter. The Heat were on the verge of committing a shot-clock violation with a loose ball rolling toward the sideline. Daniel Theis grabbed it just before the buzzer went off and the Heat reached in to force a jump ball. It’s rare to see the shot clock reset so suddenly on such a scattered play, but it did, and moments later Crowder drilled a 3-pointer as he was fouled.
▪ The third quarter was a disaster for the Celtics, in large part because Bam Adebayo started feasting at the rim. He had four dunks over a stretch of about four minutes, and the Celtics were unable to account for him in pick-and-rolls. Given the way he was rolling it was a bit surprising to see Enes Kanter come in with Adebayo on the floor, but he did, and the feasting continued.
▪ The Celtics were outscored in the third quarter, 37-17. While Adebayo was dominating at one end, the Celtics were unable to hold onto the ball at the other, committing seven turnovers. Their body language was noticeable, and it was not good.
▪ The Celtics could hardly miss in the first half, but Stevens was probably most pleased with the defense. Boston struggled mightily to slow the Heat in transition in Game 1, but that was not an issue at the start of this game. The Celtics were engaged and eager and in lockstep. Miami had just 4 fast-break points in the first half.
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▪ One second-quarter possession summed up the defensive focus well. First, Marcus Smart nearly came up with a steal as he batted the ball out of bounds near midcourt. That left the Heat with 15 seconds on the shot clock, and that was not enough time for them to find any offense. Goran Dragic tried a lob to Adebayo, but he was surrounded and ultimately kicked the ball out to the perimeter. The Celtics closed down that option quickly, too, and the shot-clock buzzer went off without Miami even putting the ball in the air.
▪ More than any other Celtic, it’s easy to tell when Walker is feeling good. He has an extra hop in his step, his smile seems a bit wider, and he just generally appears in command of the game. That version has not appeared very often recently, but it was back in the first half on Thursday. Unsurprisingly, Stevens ran a play for Walker on Boston’s first possession of the game, surely in hopes of getting him untracked. He curled off a screen and Adebayo switched onto him, just as planned. Walker moved back toward midcourt, revved up and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He had 14 first-half points.
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▪ New Hampshire native Duncan Robinson, who struggled with foul trouble in Game 1, was Miami’s only consistent source of offense in the first quarter. He drilled four 3-pointers, including a catch-and-shoot from the left corner when the ball seemed to be in his hands for a millisecond.
▪ Stevens made a substantial tweak to his early substitution patterns, inserting Kanter and Romeo Langford less than five minutes into the game. It was a short stint for Langford, who suffered an adductor strain just a minute later and missed the rest of the game. But Kanter had a big impact. The backup big man overpowered the Heat inside and finished the first half 4 for 4 with 10 points and 6 rebounds, a massive boost for Boston’s bench. The Heat don’t have a Joel Embiid to tangle with in the post, and there will be chances for Kanter to go to work in the paint over the rest of this series.
▪ In the third quarter, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made a mistake using his challenge. Dragic was called for a foul on a Jayson Tatum 3-point play, and Dragic ended up on the ground holding his head after the play. But the replay showed that Tatum simply went up for his shot in a normal motion and his shoulder came in contact with Dragic. The call stood and the Heat lost a timeout and their lone challenge.
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Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.
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September 18, 2020 at 08:42AM
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Celtics blow another big lead, lose Game 2 to Heat - The Boston Globe
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