BSJ Game Report: Boston Celtics 122, Miami Heat 92 - Celtics survive an early lapse, blow out undermanned Heat

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' win over the Miami Heat, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out strong, building a healthy first-quarter lead thanks to some strong offensive execution and tight defense. Things fell apart a bit in the second with Boston’s bench in the game and the dreaded Dennis Schroder/Marcus Smart overlapping lineup. Boston’s entire lead was erased, but the Celtics immediately went on a run that carried into the third quarter, where Boston outscored Miami 40-25 to take control of the game.

Box Score

HEADLINES

This is what good execution looks like: Aside from that second-quarter run, this was how the Celtics are supposed to play. 

“It felt like the Atlanta game being an outlier in our last five or six, it feels like we’re getting better at that,” Ime Udoka said. “We want to play faster, we want to take advantage of some crossmatches early, get some easy baskets and not be playing against set defenses, let alone a zone all the time. So that’s been an emphasis and an improvement over the last five or so games, and I think tonight was another step in the right direction.”

The emphasis on increased pace was noticeable. The Celtics kicked the ball ahead on the break, didn’t settle as much as they have in the past, and the result was an easy win against an undermanned team. 

More strong play from the Jays: A combined 49 points for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but more importantly, just two turnovers for Tatum and none for Brown. Sure, there were some home run swings from deep, but overall a very good game. 

“I think Jaylen and Jayson set the tone, especially Jaylen,” Al Horford said. “Before we broke the huddle he talked to us about making sure that we come out ready to go, that we come out firing, and that we’re not going through the motions, and we were able to jump them right away and it kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. The fact that us developing those habits, consistently coming out with that way, it makes a big difference.”

Smart doing a bit of everything: He scored when shots were there, but even on a night where he was hitting, he wasn’t gunning. He shot 4-7 from deep and 6-9 overall. Instead Smart was once again a catalyst for the offense. 

“We need him to be looking ahead, making plays, making the right pass, which he’s been doing,” Horford said. “Just pushing the pace. We need him, we need Dennis to get out and really push the pace, and we have to follow. When those guys are able to do that it makes us that more dangerous.”

TURNING POINT 

Udoka called a timeout after the 18-5 Heat run in the second quarter and lit up his team before conferring with his assistants on the after timeout play. Boston responded with a 9-0 run to turn a suddenly tied game into a 9 point lead that they’d never relinquish. 

“We gotta say focused,” Smart said of Udoka’s timeout message before admitting the real tone of the huddle. “Basically, in not so many words, stop dicking around.”

Udoka expanded on the message he relayed, saying “they were missing some guys tonight and the other guys were pretty much shooters that we wanted to make play inside the 3-point line, they got way too many open looks, missed some switches, didn’t switch up aggressively, they came off shooting, getting too many clean looks, so that was the message. Guard your man, you know what they are trying to do, the looks they are trying to get, and to their credit, we bounced back. Finished off that quarter well, but also carried into the second half.”

SECOND GUESS

If I’m going to nitpick, there's no reason Al Horford needed to play 32 minutes. 

FOUR UP

Marcus Smart: Smart had a little bit of everything cooking in this one, finishing with 16 points on 6-9 shooting (4-7 3pt) and 7 assists. His +25 on the night continues his +/- dominance since his return from Health and Safety Protocols. 

Jaylen Brown: Brown is growing into more of a vocal leader (more on that coming later), and he backed up his own words with a very nice 29-point performance on 11-19 shooting (3-9 3pt). He added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and no turnovers. 

Jayson Tatum: 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Tatum is slowly filling up every stat sheet as his shot starts to return. The low turnover numbers are very welcome. Obviously, there are still games where that's an issue, but these games where he can get to the rim without turning it over are big steps in the right direction. 

Josh Richardson: A nice contribution off the bench on a night where the bench mostly struggled until the end. 

ONE DOWN

Dennis Schroder: Once again, in a game Boston led by a lot, Schroder was a negative. Boston held a 29 point lead and Schroder was a -7. The lineup with him and Smart was a mess.

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This was a successful month.

Boston went 10-6 in January, which qualifies as a successful month, especially considering they're finishing it having won 4 of 5 games by an average of more than 30 points. 

Was it a great month? No. If they had avoided the collapses against Charlotte and Portland to go 12-4, then it would have been a great month, which shows they're doing better, but they're still not great. 

“Guys are responding. That’s how you see progress and how you see improvement,” Horford said. “The biggest thing is you have to commit to wanting to do it, and if you do it then you have a chance. Sometimes you’ve been on teams where it’s just not happening. They don’t want to hear it, it doesn’t get anywhere and you are what you are. This team, I feel like we’re not playing our best basketball yet, and we are moving in the right direction, so that is encouraging.”

As I mentioned the other day, this is a big opportunity for the Celtics. Whether you believe they can or not is beside the point. They have Charlotte at home Wednesday in what should be a make-good for their poor performance the last time around. Then road games in Detroit and Orlando could make for a nice winning streak before facing the reeling Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn (which means without Kyrie Irving and without the injured Kevin Durant). Home games against Denver, Atlanta, and Detroit (the Pistons will be a road/home back-to-back against Philadelphia) make this stretch intriguing. 

- Full health means something for this team

It’s possible that the season will end with the storyline being what we thought it would be coming into the season: That Boston is a good team when fully healthy but they're not built to withstand injuries, especially to Tatum or Brown. 

Well, Brown had his hamstring issues to start the season and there were COVID-19 issues with him and Jayson Tatum (and most of the team). Maybe a sustained stretch of good health is all they needed for some consistency. 

“That’s important. Obviously the first part of the season we didn’t have that,” Horford said. “Now we can kind of see what we can do and who we are. It’s just a good opportunity for us to work and see how good we can be. Defensively with that group, with the way that we fly around out there, I feel like we’re always going to be in a good position. I think the other part for us is figuring out offensively how we can make it work, and the guys, starting with Jayson and Jaylen, it’s been working really well.”

The Celtics have been feasting on some cupcakes, so it can be hard to tell how real these results are. But these are the breaks and eating is better than not eating, and each win the Celtics can get builds more confidence. 

“We’re racking up these wins, the more wins you continue to do, the better you feel about yourself,” Smart said. “You start to feel better, those shots that you was missing start to go in, things like that. So we got to keep it up. Everybody's in good spirits, and that's how it should be.”