The Boston Celtics’ home-court advantage was destroyed on Wednesday night when the Miami Heat defeated them with an unparalleled flurry of 3-pointers.
With 24 points and 14 assists, Tyler Herro helped the Heat defeat top-seeded Boston 111-101, tying the first-round playoff series at one game apiece. Herro made six of Miami’s 23 3-pointers in the game, which is a team record.
Erik Spoelstra, the coach of the Heat, praised the team’s excellent response. “After that, we took a few images as well. Making shots always makes everything appear better.
The Heat rebounded from a Game 1 blowout with 21 points and 10 rebounds from Bam Adebayo and 21 points from Caleb Martin, their new Celtics rival. The Heat shot 53.5% (23 of 43) from beyond the arc. The 20 3-pointers Miami had made in their playoff debut against the Bucks in the 2021 first round were broken by that.
The Celtics’ coach Joe Mazzulla stated, “They obviously made a conscious effort to have free reign to shoot more.”
With Jimmy Butler, a key player in the playoffs, sidelined for the first three games due to injury, Miami shot over 50% from three-point range in each of the first three quarters (and a still-productive 4 of 10 in the fourth). With 3:16 remaining, Boston had pulled an 11-point lead to six, 102-96, but Martin’s three-pointer put them back ahead by two possessions.
After watching Boston shoot 22 3-pointers to Miami’s 12 in the opening game, Spoelstra stated, “You have to take ’em, based on how they were playing us the first two games.” “I didn’t want to lose that department like we did in the previous game.”
For Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 33 points. In Boston’s 114-94 victory on Sunday, Jayson Tatum scored 28 points while appearing unaffected by Martin’s hard foul, which sent him flying to the floor with less than a minute remaining.
With two minutes remaining in the first half, Miami was ahead by five, 55-50, but Brown quickly opened up a four-point advantage with three consecutive 3-pointers. The next time out, Brown missed a three-pointer, but his layup in the closing seconds made the halftime score 61-58.
Miami went on a 10-0 run to take an 82-70 lead with under four minutes to play in the third before the Celtics cut it to six.
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