Miami Heat Set New Franchise Record in Upset Win Over the Boston Celtics
Boston - The Miami Heat were looking to steal a win in the Garden after taking a beat down in Game One. Game Two went exactly how Eric Spoelstra envisioned it. They limited the Celtics from making threes and grabbing offensive rebounds, while they were drilling threes left and right. It’s hard to imagine that the Heat can shoot this well and defend equally as well all series long.
Unlike Game One, the Celtics were not able to start out with a 14-0 run. Eric Spoelstra, being a basketball mastermind, made sure his Heat squad was ready to play. The three ball was falling early, allowing them to stay within striking distance. As a team, they nailed eight first-quarter three-pointers, a massive improvement. It was only a matter of time until Jayson Tatum got it going early, keeping his high-scoring playoff run going. The C’s star player scored 10 straight points, looking just as unstoppable as his first game against the Heat. At the end of the opening quarter, the Heat led 28-27.
So far, in this series, Sam Hauser has been the catalyst off the bench for the Celtics. His ability to defend and then hit shots from anywhere on the court, provides extreme value being a role player. The points in the paint started to rack up as the three-pointers didn’t come as effectively as they did in Game One for the Celtics. Jaylen Brown led the charge by driving in the lane consistently, either getting fouled or finishing a tough two-point attempt. The Heat still managed to answer consistently, mostly by having a +33-point advantage on the three-point line. The combination of Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin was lethal from the three-point arc, each sinking three of them. Near the end of the second quarter, Brown went on a 9-0 run of his own to give the Celtics the lead going into the half.
After JB’s flurry of points at the end of the first half, he kept his hot shooting touch to start the third quarter. Even with Brown’s incredible shooting performance, the Heat were not shying away. The duo of Herro and Martin were simply unstoppable. At the time, they combined for 10 made threes and as a team, they were shooting 56.3%. All five of the Miami starters scored in double digits by the end of the third quarter, holding onto a six-point lead. Spoelstra had his team exactly where he wanted them.
The Celtics could not hit their shots and still struggled to defend to begin the fourth quarter. Hero was being a pest all night and continued to feast against the poor Celtic’s defense. Bam Adebayo was hitting every mid-range shot known to man. Spoelstra’s game plan was coming to fruition, copying the Celtics’ game plan from Game One. They set a new franchise playoff record for most made threes in a single game with 23. Derrick White was the only Celtic that played with high intensity and a care to win, the rest of the squad was looking defeated. With the Heat pulling out the upset, the Celtics now move to 4-7 in their last 11 home playoff games. Tyler Herro was easily the player of the game and will look to continue his great playback in Miami for Game Three.
