Final: Heat 112, Celtics 106 -- Lead for No. 3 seed shrinks

The Celtics had a golden opportunity to lock up the No. 3 seed on Tuesday night with Jimmy Butler out of the lineup for the Heat. That combined with a back-to-back game for Miami put the C’s in a tremendous spot to take advantage of a shorthanded fourth-seeded squad.

Boston failed to deliver on that front however, looking a step slow all night defensively against an energized Heat squad on their way to 112-106 defeat. Five different players scored in double figures for the Heat, led by center Bam Adebayo (21 points, career-high 18 free throw attempts) and Duncan Robinson (21 points).

Jayson Tatum led the C’s with 23 points but the C’s had an inefficient shooting night overall, knocking down just 31 percent of their 3s. That combined with a parade to the FT stripe by the Heat (39 attempts on the night) built a double-digit lead early for Miami that Boston wasn’t able to recover from.

The C’s lead in the East for the No. 3 seed is now down to 1.5 games with five games left to play.

—Ugly first half of basketball highlighted by the Celtics’ best five being outscored on 10-4 run by a Heat squad without Jimmy Butler to end the second quarter.

—C’s 3-point shot hasn’t been there so far (5-of-20) against a mix of zone and man from a tough defensive Heat team. No one has made more than one 3 on the entire roster.

—Jaylen Brown, Hayward and Tatum have combined for 27 first half points but are just 1-of-10 from 3-point range.

Kemba Walker with his worst half in the bubble so far, making just one field goal and having five points overall despite an increased minutes load.

—Enes Kanter has been the bright spot off the bench with 6 points in 6 minutes but Brad Stevens has stayed away from him due to Miami’s perimeter shooting. Might be worth the tradeoff in the second half with his bulk down low.

—A dud first half from Marcus Smart (0-of-5 from field) while piling up four fouls in the midst of guarding some of the Heat bigs.

—Heat have played great free flowing offensively without Butler, knocking down 10-of-24 3s in the first half. Their bench has been a big difference maker with a 23-14 edge over the C’s.

—Boston’s perimeter defense and rebounding (7 offensive rebounds for Heat) have not been up to par today and for most of the bubble play so far to be honest. They don’t look like a top-5 defensive team that we saw earlier in the season.

—Adebayo has really bullied undersized C’s lineups down low with 10 free throw attempts in the first half.

• Kemba Walker will see his minutes limit increase to 26-27 minutes for tonight's game, his third straight game of a higher limit. He will not play in Wednesday's game against the Nets on the second half of a back-to-back.


• Miami is 2.5 games behind the Celtics for the No. 3 seed with six games left to play for both teams. A win by Boston in this matchup should lock up the No. 3 seed for them.


• Brad Stevens on the Heat after their midseason transformation via trade: "I think in a lot of ways it’s changed, at least from afar, it looks like it was a plan to become more versatile. I think when you look at in the last 12 months or so adding Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala, Duncan Robinson at 6-8, like, they’re long and versatile. Tyler Herro is 6-6. They started big all year, and since they’ve been in the bubble now they’re starting Crowder at the 4 and Adebayo at the 5. So, they’re a different team than we’ve played. They’ve still obviously got all the great qualities of a Miami Heat team. They just have a lot more versatility and flexibility. I think they’re a scary team in the postseason because they can play a number of different ways. They can play Adebayo and Olynyk together. They can play one of those guys. They can go super-small and be really versatile. They’ve got a lot of options."