Heat, Butler make 118-107 opening statement vs. Celtics, take 1-0 lead in East finals
Bam Adebayo chased down and blocked Jaylen Brown as if he again was smothering Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics in the 2020 Eastern Conference finals. So Heat 118, Celtics 107 Tuesday night at FTX Arena and a 1-0 lead in these best-of-seven East finals, the winner to face the Golden State Warriors or Dallas Mavericks in the league’ s championship series.
Bam Adebayo chased down and blocked Jaylen Brown as if he again was smothering Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics in the 2020 Eastern Conference finals.
Max Strus followed with an emphatic transition dunk, because these playoff moments have yet to prove too big for the Miami Heat’s undrafted players.
And Jimmy Butler followed with consecutive steals after a Boston timeout and offered his own punctuating slam to what had turned into a violent 22-2 surge.
So Heat 118, Celtics 107 Tuesday night at FTX Arena and a 1-0 lead in these best-of-seven East finals, the winner to face the Golden State Warriors or Dallas Mavericks in the league’s championship series.
“I felt like our energy shifted,” Adebayo said. “And the crowd got into it.
“I guess we just woke up.”
No, it wasn’t only about seizing that moment, but it was a flurry that showed what Erik Spoelstra’s team can be at its most-active, most-aggressive, most-electric best.
Basically, the Heat decided it was go-time.
“We wanted them to feel us,” guard Gabe Vincent said of the third-quarter breakthrough. “They were way too comfortable in the first half.”
Yes, there were mitigating circumstances, with the Celtics lacking sidelined Al Horford and Marcus Smart.
But this also remained the Heat playing in the injury void of Kyle Lowry, whose hamstring did not stop him from celebrating each stifling or scintillating sequence.
Butler led the Heat with 41 points, supported by 18 from Tyler Herro and 17 from Vincent, with Adebayo cleaning up the occasional uneven Heat defense sequence, when needed.
“I play the way I play to win,” Butler said.
That provided the Heat with more than enough to offset 29 points from the Celtics’ Tatum and 24 from Brown.
Game 2 is Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at FTX Arena.
Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday’s game:
1. Closing time: The Heat trailed 28-25 at the end of the first period, went down 13 in the second and trailed 62-54 at halftime, when Tatum had 21 points.
The Heat then put together their 22-2 run at the start of the third quarter, only to see the Celtics respond with a 9-0 run. Eventually the Heat wound up outscoring the Celtics 39-14 in the period to take a 93-76 lead into the fourth.
“The guys were just really disappointed at halftime,” Spoelstra said. “I barely needed to say anything.”
But after the Heat went up 20 early in the fourth, the Celtics forced a Heat timeout with 8:11 left after getting within 96-86.
A Strus 3-pointer pushed the Heat to a 112-99 lead with 3:09 to play, with a Payon Pritchard 3-pointer drawing the Celtics within 114-107 with 1:28 to go, ultimately too little too late.
“It’s like what took us so long?” power forward P.J. Tucker said of finally putting it away. “That’s what we’ve got to figure out.”
2. Attack mode: There was little messing around at the 3-point line in this one for Butler.
It was attack mode from the outset, at one point attempting 12 of the Heat’s 15 first free throws and closing 17 of 18 from the line.
Butler personally outscored the Celtics 17-14 in the third quarter.
“Jimmy just really inspired everybody in that third quarter,” Spoelstra said.
He closed 12 of 19 from the field, adding nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocked shots.
Along the way, he passed Udonis Haslem for sixth place on the Heat all-time playoff scoring list.
“I’m glad that I have the guys I have around me,” Butler said.
No sooner was it over, then former Heat guard Dwyane Wade posted on Twitter of Butler, “My brother is playing beautiful basketball! It’s a joy to watch.”
3. Instinct returns: For months, Spoelstra has praised Vincent for his willingness and ability to go from undersized scoring guard to willing playmaker.
But the instincts remain, as Tuesday night’s second quarter showed, when he scored 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
“I think the biggest part of his development is just making winning plays,” Spoelstra said.
Vincent’s jolt was just the spark needed, after the Heat went a miserable 4 of 14 on 3-pointers in the first half.
“We needed a spark, we needed some shooting in that second half,” Spoelstra said, “and he was able to provide that.”
His 17 points were a career playoff high.
“After half,” he said, “I just wanted to be more aggressive offensively.”
4. Herro ball: It wasn’t to the level of his 37-point effort in Game 5 of the 2020 East finals against the Celtics, but Herro for extended stretches early was the lone source of consistent Heat offense in the first half when Butler dared take a rest.
At one point, Herro was up to 13 shots, when no teammate had more than six, his creatively needed against what began as stifling Celtics defense.
He stood with 15 points at halftime.
He added eight rebounds.
5. Sudden depth: The Celtics immediately had to turn to their depth when it was announced pregame that Horford had entered NBA health-and-safety protocols and that Smart was out with a midfoot sprain.
That moved Grant Williams and Derrick White into Boston’s starting lineup.
While protocols typically would have Horford out for a week, Celtics coach Ime Udoka was less certain.
“He’s feeling fine, and we’ll go from there, wait to see results and tests and future tests,” Udoka said. “There are different protocols and tests that have to be passed, and we’ll know going forward. But it’s not a definite that he’s out for two games.”
As for Smart, who was injured in the Celtics’ Game 7 home victory Sunday over the Milwaukee Bucks, Udoka said, “The soreness was too much, still some swelling, and limited basketball movements that he couldn’t do.”
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