Miami wanted this one.
Jimmy Butler, who missed seven games with knee soreness, made it a point to let people know on social media that he was coming to Boston for this game. They wanted to send a message that, in a season that has been so far disappointing, that they can still run with the big dogs.
“We know what we're capable of. We just have to go out there and prove it, and do it,” Butler said after the game. “We ain't worried about nobody else, just the guys in this locker room, coaching staff, management. We've got a long way to go, but we can get there.”
The Heat have a way of playing that brings out the worst of the Celtics. Boston has been setting the example for how offense is supposed to look this season. They have played a brand of basketball so beautiful and pure, that their game film could be chopped up and packaged as instructional videos. When they play Miami, they put out a blooper reel.
“Miami is just a tough defensive team. They’re scrappy, they use their hands well, they set the tone for the game from the jump,” Jaylen Brown said. “They put a lot of pressure on the officiating because you can’t call all of them. So they do a good job of setting the tone and using their hands.”
It’s almost like that feeling you get when you’re back at your high school or college for some reason -- or maybe when you got together with your parents or siblings around Thanksgiving. Whatever situation you’re in that brings you back to your younger days; the days of being bullied, or picked on, or just feeling inferior in some way to someone older.
Think of it as Biff from Back to the Future (before Marty set things straight). He’d come around and give George McFly grief even as an adult. Some guys just have that power.
Brown, who is getting some buzz for All-NBA consideration and even the stray MVP vote, reverted back to May and June Jaylen against Miami. Jayson Tatum did the same, combining with Brown for an even split of 10 turnovers, six of which were live-ball steals for Miami.
Miami got 21 points off 20 Boston turnovers. They beat Boston 22-10 in second-chance points. They got 14 more shot attempts than the Celtics.
“They beat you on the margins,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Offensive rebounding, transition, turnovers, free throws, and they test you. They test your discipline.”
The Celtics still haven't had a game where they have been outclassed from beginning to end. Each of their five losses, three in overtime, has been a game Boston is capable of winning.
That's encouraging and discouraging at the same time.
“When we're playing as well as we're playing everybody's going to be out to get you,” Marcus Smart said. “We have to come out and be ready. Tonight, we weren't as ready as we usually are and they got the best of us. So you tip your hat off to a really good team. (Erik Spoelstra) does a really good job with those guys. And each and every day you see it, so we love playing them. They challenge us and they make us be the best we can be.”
The offense that has carried the Celtics was very mortal on Friday night. The 3-pointers didn’t fall at this season’s spectacular rate. The late-game execution was too stagnant and reminiscent of the issues Brad Stevens spent a summer trying to fix.
On one hand, that's maddening because everyone in the building knows that's not how this Celtics team wins games. On the other hand, teams aren’t perfect for 82 games, and there are nights when things are tougher than others.
While you were swearing at your TV, the Lakers were on ESPN beating the Milwaukee Bucks, so maybe the Basketball Gods had simply deemed tonight as a bit of a correction for the league’s elite.
This feels like more than that, though. We don’t know where Miami will fall in the standings when we get to the other side of winter. This could be a first-round matchup, or a conference finals rematch for all we know.
What’s clear, though, is that no matter what the Heat’s lot in life this season, they have a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to the Celtics. Games against Miami are different, and they’d better figure out how to change that when things start to matter a bit more.
“We may see them later on down the line. Being prepared to play against a team like that is huge,” Grant Williams said. “(It) allows us to improve to see what we can do better but allows us to really, really feel like we're challenged. It keeps us humble in a sense. It keeps us understanding that we're not some perfect juggernaut that can't get knocked off. We're a team that has performed and will continue to perform as long as we continue to have a level head and keep our minds at ease."