Everything you need to know about the Heat's 117-114 win over the Celtics with BSJ insight and analysis:
Box Score
Heat use fourth-quarter rally to steal overtime win: The Celtics led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter and were up by five in the final minute of regulation, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Heat in a 117-114 overtime loss on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jimmy Butler (20 points) hit the game-winning bucket in the final minute of overtime over Jayson Tatum with 12 seconds remaining to put Miami up 2. Tatum tried to answer on the other end, but Bam Adebayo blocked him at the rim to take away Boston’s best chance at the tie. Tatum eventually missed a desperation heave at the buzzer as well in Boston’s final chance to tie the game.
Tatum posted his fifth consecutive double-double with 30 points and 16 rebounds, but missed several key shots during crunch time, going 2-of-10 over the final 17 minutes. Marcus Smart (26 points) added six made 3s to help carry Boston’s offense, the third game this postseason in which he’s reached that mark, but was not involved much down the stretch as Boston’s offensive lacked ball movement. Kemba Walker added 19 points but struggled with his shot (6-of-19) for the third straight game.
Goran Dragic had a team-high 29 points for the Heat to lead five players in double figures for Miami.
Celtics defense springs leaks all night: The Celtics are facing the best offensive team they’ve seen in the playoffs in this series and they found that out the hard way in Game 1, surrendering a pair of 35+ point quarters after building big leads. The Celtics struggled at locating Miami shooters from 3-point range (Miami hit 44 percent), got lost on back screens that lead to easy layups and fouled a ton late in the fourth quarter, which helped Miami erase a 14-point deficit with just 11 minutes remaining. The Celtics were able to play good defense in parts of the game (held Miami to 34 combined points in the first and third quarters), but they weren’t able to sustain it when it mattered.
TURNING POINT
The Celtics appeared to be on the verge of a win with a five-point lead and just over a minute left in regulation after Kemba Walker made a floater. Boston’s defense let down its guard however, allowing wide open 3s from Tyler Herro and Butler on back-to-back possessions to put Miami ahead with a 6-0 run in the next 40 seconds. The Celtics were able to force overtime with a free throw but they were never in a better position to win the game than this spot.
TWO UP
Brad Wanamaker: The 30-year-old reserve guard was a spark plug off the bench in the second half, corralling a career-high five steals and dishing out a team-high six assists to help lead a 35-23 third quarter for the C’s. He finished with 11 points in 25 minutes.
Marcus Smart: He knocked down six 3s for the third time this postseason, giving the Celtics an offensive spark it needed early with Kemba Walker struggling with his shot for the third straight game. He finished 26 points on 6-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.
TWO DOWN
Kemba Walker: Three straight games of ugly shooting performances now for the point guard and there wasn’t any box-and-1 to throw him out of rhythm tonight. Walker did knock down a few midrange jumpers late, but he went 1-of-9 from 3-point range and is shooting 5-of-34 from deep in his last five games.
Fourth quarter fouling: Miami is the best team in the NBA at getting to the free throw line and the Celtics fueled Miami’s comeback in the final quarter of regulation by fouling early and often. With Miami getting into the penalty with over seven minutes remaining, they managed to pile up 12 of their 28 free throws on the night in the frame as the C’s fouled eight times in the quarter. Those easy points enabled the Heat to erase a 14-point fourth quarter lead by Boston.
TOP PLAY
THIS ANGLE ?@Bam1of1 with the GAME-SAVING BLOCK for the @MiamiHEAT! #PhantomCam
Game 2: Thurs. - 7pm/et, ESPN pic.twitter.com/Z3K6xhvKFb
— NBA (@NBA) September 16, 2020
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
The late-game offense brought back memories of the tail end of the Big Three era and that’s not a good thing: One of Brad Stevens’ best traits as a head coach is his ability to get his best players to succeed in late-game situations with creative play calling. However, the Celtics resorted to a steady dose of hero ball in the closing minutes of regulation that was reminiscent of Paul Pierce’s late-game isolations that went nowhere towards the tail end of his career. Tatum went 2-of-10 from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime on a steady diet of these type of plays. Walker started to warm up in overtime but it wasn’t before he stumbled through a 4-of-17 shooting night in regulation that left him in some tough spots with the shot clock running down in isolation spots. The Celtics had good ball movement going at various points of this game, but it unraveled again late — as the C’s offense looked flustered in the face of adversity with just one assist dished out in the final 7.5 minutes of the game. Stevens needs to get his guys committed to execute better on offense in the closing minutes so they aren’t watching big leads slip away time and time again by settling for tough looks.
It’s time to worry a little bit about Kemba Walker: The Heat were aggressive mixing up their defenses on the All-Star, throwing double teams at him periodically in the pick-and-roll and preventing him from seeing a lot of daylight in the lane. However, after his third straight subpar shooting night (6-of-19 overall), it’s fair to start wondering whether the postseason grind is starting to take its toll on his knee. He hasn’t played this poorly for a sustained length of time since back in February and the Celtics aren’t going to be able to overcome high volume inefficient shooting nights against a team like Miami to get to the NBA Finals. He started to get into a little bit of a rhythm towards the end of overtime, but it needs to be a priority for the C’s to get him comfortable after three straight games of sub 33 percent shooting. His burst is not close to what it’s been earlier in the postseason, and that’s a very concerning trend — since it’s not allowing him to gain the separation he needs against bigger defenders.
