If you thought the Heat entered Saturday's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals a little bit grumpy after getting pummeled by the Celtics in Miami, you'd be right.
"In the previous game, like everybody knew, they beat us like we stole something," said Bam Adebayo. "That should wake anybody up, getting beat like that at home. From my point of view, that says it all."
As far as the Heat are concerned, it did. Using a hot-shooting start to build a 26-point lead and some furious defense to sustain it, the Heat took Game 3 at TD Garden 109-103. Even more impressive: they did it despite losing star Jimmy Butler at halftime, and watching both Marcus Smart (ankle) and Jayson Tatum (shoulder) return to the game to thundering ovations.
"It's just playoff basketball," said Heat coach Eric Spoelstra. "You have two really competitive teams going at it and laying it out on the line, and there's just adversity going on both sides just constantly. The competition is that intense that it's creating that adversity."
Most visiting teams would wilt under those circumstances, but the Heat kept answering the Celtics, mostly due to Adebayo, who put up a team-high 31 points and nine rebounds.
"Yeah, he did his version of what Jimmy does in terms of 'do what's necessary for the game,'" Spoelstra said. "He was extremely assertive. It happened in a lot of moments that were fully in the context of how we want to play. He was just way more assertive on the catch and those moments in between.
"And it wasn't just the scoring. That's what everybody is going to recognize, but he did so many things in terms of getting us organized, facilitating, playing point guard for us at times, running offense in the post through him, and then defending like he always does one through five against a team that presents a lot of challenges."
In the first two games, Adebayo scored a total of 16 points on a combined 10 shots. He took 12 shots in the first half on Saturday, before finishing with 22 (68 percent made).
"We also talked about Adebayo struggling this series, he's going to come out extra aggressive," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. "Put his head down, we didn't match it. We had been playing physical defense initially, and kind of limiting him obviously but other guys, as well, and for the most part felt like they were continually driving or we weren't get rebounds. So they outhustled to 50/50 balls. It was a concerted effort on their part to put their head down and try to be the more physical team tonight, and they were on offense."
But it wasn't just Adebayo. Kyle Lowry returned to the lineup and gave the Heat an early spark. P.J. Tucker (17 points) also returned and won his matchup against Jayson Tatum (10 points), and former Celtic Max Strus had the biggest bucket of the game with 2:16 after Boston had climbed to within one point.
Max Strus with the CLUTCH response!#NBAConferenceFinals presented by Google Pixel on ABC pic.twitter.com/z9ghV3CxHp
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2022
"Yeah, we just needed a basket in general," Strus said. "They were making a run and I think it was a one-point game at that time. In the timeout, Kyle said, 'let's run a pin-down for Max. Let's get him open.' So when he said that, I had all the confidence in the world to step up and make a shot.
"Just shot my normal shot. I got two great screens from Bam and P.J. and hit a wide-open jumper. Obviously it was a big shot and big momentum killer for them."
Adebayo with a made a basket at the shot clock buzzer to give Miami a six-point cushion as it a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Heat's defense was what really won it for them. Miami set a team playoff record with 19 steals, and they forced 23 turnovers that turned into 33 points for the Heat.
"From the beginning their pressure felt like it bothered us, and we didn't respond," said Al Horford. "It's happened to us a couple times this playoff run. It's something that we continue to fight, and it seemed like every time we put ourselves in a position, we turned the ball over."
Victor Oladipo didn't play a minute in the first half, but played 20 in the second for Butler and had four steals.
"He comes in to be the spark," Tucker said of Oladipo. "But his lateral slides and quickness, it was unbelievable. I told him tonight, that was some of the best lateral foot speed I've seen anybody have because Jaylen Brown, when he gets going, especially right, he's tough to get back in front of. For Vic to square him up was unreal. He gave us a spark."
For the Heat, the attention now turns to whether Butler can answer the bell for Game 4. Spoelstra didn't have an update, but said Butler would not need an MRI.
"We're just going to go back to our cave and just recoup and maybe I'll have some information for you tomorrow," he said.
Strus knows what having or not having Butler would mean to this team in a critical game in which the Heat can grab a commanding 3-1 lead heading back to Miami.
"That's something we're going to have to get to the drawing board and figure out," he said. "Obviously losing a big piece like that is huge. We'll figure it out. We have a lot of guys in this locker room that are willing and able to step up and we have a great coaching staff to put us in great situations."
