BSJ ECF Game 1 Report: Heat 118, Celtics 107 - Horrendous third quarter, too much Jimmy Butler, doom C's

MIAMI — Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics' loss to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics stormed out to a big lead, showing the Heat what playoff defense was really about, but Tyler Herro immediately brought Miami back. Boston rebuilt its lead in the second quarter by getting out on the break, outscoring the Heat 13-2 in that area. The third quarter was a different story though with the Celtics giving up a 22-2 run to start the half. Boston ultimately lost the quarter 39-14. They did make a run in the fourth to cut it to 10, but they just couldn't keep Jimmy Butler off the free throw line.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Super sloppy third: I cannot begin to express how terrible that third quarter was, especially considering how good that first half was. Boston turned the ball over 8 times, 6 of them belonged to Jayson Tatum. The other two were Jaylen Brown's. Boston’s two stars simply fell flat after halftime.

Terrible defense on Butler: Butler wants to get to the rim, and he wants to draw fouls. He had a decent first half but an ungodly 27 points on 11 shots because he was 11-12 from the free throw line in the second half. 

“Got some favorable matchups that he drew some fouls on, as well, and then just even when our bigs were coming across reaching for no reason,” Ime Udoka said. “We know he's a guy that wants to get to the free throw line, wants to pump fake and try to draw fouls, and did a poor job showing our hands and contesting there. Even Rob and Theis and some of those guys came over and swiped down and put him at the free throw line for no reason.

Fatigue factor? There will be a lot of chatter after this one that Boston ran out of gas in the second half. It did look like they really struggled to recover once they got smacked by the Heat to start the third. 

“I don't want to use the excuse of tired legs because we played an extremely good first half in general, were energized and came out flat in the third quarter,” Udoka said. “Don't want to say it was anything to do with fatigue. They increased their physicality. We didn't handle it well.”

TURNING POINT

Udoka called a timeout with 6:16 to go in the third quarter and Miami on an 18-2 run. At that point it was still an 8-point game and very much within reach. The Celtics came out of the timeout and immediately turned the ball over two straight times, but Butler steals, to make it a 12 point game. 

Even though Boston would cut the lead down to 10 in the fourth quarter, that stretch was the message sent to Boston that Butler was going to be the best player on the floor in this game. 

ONE UP 

Robert Williams: He was big for the Celtics early on and finished with 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. He was the only Celtic with a positive +/- (+5).

FOUR DOWN

Jayson Tatum: He was on his way to a great game after the first half, dropping 21 points on 9-14 shooting and I was feeling pretty good about my declaration that Tatum was going to take home the first ever Larry Bird Trophy for ECF MVP. Then he came out of the half with an 8 point, 1-7 shooting, 6 turnover, 1 assist mess while Butler outclassed him at every turn. 

Jaylen Brown: His 15-point fourth quarter saved his overall night. He was 4-5 in the closing quarter while also adding 6 rebounds. However, he was 3-12 for 9 points in quarters 1-3, and 0-4 with 2 turnovers and team-worst -21 in the third. He was also 6-10 from the free-throw line, continuing some ill-timed struggles.

Derrick White: Basically a non-factor in this game. He needed to be better defensively, especially on Herro. 

Grant Williams: He got away from what worked in the Game 7 that earned him all that praise. He played 34 minutes and had as many fouls as he did shot attempts (5). 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE (WITH SOME DIFFERENT SPINS) KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

The positive spin: Boston won the first, second, and fourth quarters. They're good.

The Celtics had one bad quarter, and it just happened to be one of the worst quarters they’ve played all season. 

“We tend to have slow starts in the third quarter through these playoffs,” Payton Pritchard said. “I think it's just something we've got to really focus in on and try to control that.”

It’s bizarre because the Celtics had spent a lot of this season coming back from halves with poise, armed with informative clips, some motivation, and, I dunno, maybe some orange wedges? Whatever it was that had worked before needs to start working again. 

The Celtics need to clean up some of their sloppy fouling that put Butler at the line 18 times, more than half Miami’s total, they need to take better care of the ball, and they need to keep Tyler Herro more in check. They went through what they went through and they still only lost by 11 and they actually had a shot in the fourth quarter. 

The negative spin: Man those legs looked tired 

Sometimes the first half is the better half for a tired team. They come out with a lot of energy but they don’t have anything in reserve. Add to it that Tatum and Brown each played more than 40 minutes and it’s pretty clear why they were never able to pull out of their tailspin. 

The question is whether these guys can come out in Game 2 and bring four full quarters of energy. If they can’t their tank back to full, or near full, then some of the assessments of this team and their abilities get tossed out the window. 

My actual take: I expected Boston to lose this game and I thought that with Al Horford and Marcus Smart actually in the lineup, so I’m not worried about them in this series. The worst thing anyone can do is overreact to a Game 1. Boston lost Game 1 to the Bucks and looked worse overall doing that than they did in this game (though nothing compares to this third quarter).

I do think this team is tired, but Miami had something to prove in this game. Butler had something to prove. So them coming out of the half on fire makes perfect sense 

I do also believe their correctables are not difficult to fix. 

If they keep giving Butler 18 free throws, they're going to lose. If they just fix that and even only cut that in half while reducing their sloppy, unforced turnovers, they’ll be ok ... especially if they get Horford and Smart back for Game 2.