Eighth-seeded Miami Heat silenced the crowd inside TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday night after beating the top-seeded Celtics 111-101 to even their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at 1-1.
The Heat, who were without superstar forward Jimmy Butler, made visible adjustments from their disappointing 20-point defeat in Game 1 as they hit 23 three-pointers, setting a new franchise record in the playoffs.
“You have to take them, based on how they were playing us the first two games,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I did not want to get annihilated in that department like we did the game before.”
That’s how you respond 😤 pic.twitter.com/Mh24kfKQ8J
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 25, 2024
The Heat made sure to revenge their huge loss from the opening game of the series, in which the Celtics shot them out of the park with 22 three-pointers to their own 12.
Miami were led by the hot hands of Tyler Herro, who poured in 24 points, 5 rebounds, 14 assists, and shot six 3s on a night where they were only two shy of the NBA Playoffs record for three-pointers.
“Everybody came to play,” Herro reiterated. “We lost bad in game one and everybody responded. That’s all you can ask for from a group of guys.”
The Miami Heat just set a franchise record for threes (23) in a playoff game. pic.twitter.com/CHzWtAOt2C
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 25, 2024
Bam Adebayo hit 20 or more points for the second straight game in the series as the Defensive Player of the Year Award finalist finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Caleb Martin, who was booed all game, ended with 21 points and five 3s as all five of Miami’s starters finished with double figures.
“It’s always a good thing if you can get one on the road,” Martin said. “You always look to try to steal one. We were able to do that.”
#HEATWin Final (Game 2) – Miami 111, Boston 101
🔥 Herro: 24pts, 14ast, 5reb, 6 3PM
🔥 Adebayo: 21pts, 10reb
🔥 Martin: 21pts, 5 3PM
🔥 Jaquez Jr.: 14pts, 3 3PM
🔥 Jović: 11pts, 9reb, 6ast, 3stl, 3 3PM pic.twitter.com/xXcTmtX8UF— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 25, 2024
Jaylen Brown led Boston with 33 points, 8 rebounds, and four 3s, while Jayson Tatum, who got his first career playoff triple-double in Game 1, finished with 28 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Tatum said. “There’s a lot of history between these two franchises, especially recently. … It’s never going to go exactly as people expect it to go and that’s the beauty of it.”
The Celtics finished the regular season with a league-best 64-18 record to claim homecourt advantage all through the postseason. However, they will head to the Kaseya Center in Miami for Games 3 and 4 with the hopes of getting at least one win to regain homecourt advantage.
