Everything you need to know about the Celtics beating the Heat 112-102 with BSJ insight and analysis
Box Score
HEADLINES
Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum help Celtics pull away in fourth: Gordon Hayward has played good basketball for a couple of months now, but he saved some of his best for the fourth quarter on Wednesday night. The swingman did not miss a shot in the final frame, scoring 11 of his team-high 25 points in the fourth. Jayson Tatum added nine of his 16 points in the fourth as well, which carried the Celtics past the Heat with a 112-102 victory. Five players scored in double figures for Boston despite the visitors playing without Jaylen Brown (sore back) and Marcus Morris (sore knee). Al Horford chipped in with 21 points and eight rebounds, Aron Baynes had his second double-double of the year (10 points, 10 rebounds) while Kyrie Irving added 23 points in Boston’s second straight win. Dion Waiters had a team-high 21 points for the hosts, who have dropped out of the playoff picture for the time being in the Eastern Conference.
Keeping pace with Indiana: The win keeps Boston in the driver’s seat for the No. 4 seed with three games remaining in the regular season. Indiana took care of business against the Pistons on Wednesday night, setting up a crucial showdown at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday night between the Celtics and Pacers. A Boston win in that matchup would make their magic number one to clinch the No. 4 seed. A loss would force them to depend on the Pacers to lose one of their final two regular season games in order to keep homecourt advantage in play for the first round of the playoffs.
TURNING POINT
Tatum scored nine straight points during a four minutes stretch midway through the fourth quarter, which enabled Boston’s offense to stay afloat and maintain a two-possession lead even while Horford and Hayward rested on the bench for crunch time.
TWO UP
Horford: The veteran big man has scored at least 19 points in six consecutive games, which is his longest such streak since the 2012-13 season. He was an efficient 10-of-16 from the field on Wednesday night and has shot 50 percent or better from the field in six straight games.
Hayward: The forward posted a season-high 13 free throw attempts, the most he has had in a game since 2017. He is averaging 15.7 points over his last six games while shooting 52.5 percent from the field. He’s scored in double digits for six straight games since returning from his concussion, his longest stretch of the year.
TWO DOWN
Defensive rebounding: The Celtics were in scramble mode in the paint to stop the Heat’s penetration, but they did not do a good job of cleaning up the glass. Miami scored 15 second-chance points off of nine offensive rebounds in the first half alone, leaving the C’s particularly vulnerable on the glass when Baynes was out of the game. C’s will need to clean up this area for the postseason when they go small against bigger front lines. The Heat finished with 25 second- chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.
Kyrie Irving’s fourth-quarter defense: The All-Star picked up a fifth foul early in his fourth-quarter stint and played scared afterward, allowing the likes of Waiters and Goran Dragic to get to the rim past him on multiple occasions. Stevens wisely elected to pull him with about three minutes left in the game to stop the bleeding on the defensive end.
TOP PLAY
3 for 3 ? pic.twitter.com/8e4ySAuK0p
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 3, 2019
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
Stevens really wants the four seed the way he’s leaning on his starters: The head coach had limited options without Morris and Brown in the fold, but he kept his foot on the glass with this one, playing Tatum 20 minutes in the first half, with Irving and Horford both going for 18 before the break. Tatum finished with 39 minutes while Horford ended up with 35. Those were all a few minutes higher than their usual averages, so it’s evident that Stevens was trying to get a sneak peek at how this group looks with an increased minutes load for his key pieces. The early results were fairly promising as the Heat did not go on any big runs that have plagued the C’s all year long, particularly on the road. With Boston’s defense looking much sharper without Morris in the fold for one night, it will be interesting to see how big his share is of the minutes' pie gets upon his return to the rotation.
One of the best road wins all year: This was as close as you are going to get to a playoff atmosphere in the regular season with every game mattering so much to the Heat right now. Miami did not shoot the ball well at all but the Celtics had a lot to do with that thanks to better communication and strong contests in the paint for most of the night. They let Whiteside have his way on the glass against them but no one else on Miami’s roster got hot, while the Celtics pulled off key runs of their own down the stretch without the help of Irving. Boston has played well on the road this year but they haven’t had a strong crunch time like this against a playoff team in weeks. This will be a confidence booster heading into Indiana on Friday night.