BSJ Game Report: Heat 98, Celtics 95 - Poor execution and tired legs doom C's in the fourth

MIAMI - Everything you need to know about the Celtics' loss to the Miami Heat, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics and Heat went back and forth for most of the first half, with Jayson Tatum and Max Strus dueling early, and Tatum getting some support from Derrick White. Bam Adebayo kept Miami close in the 2nd, but Boston whipped off an 11-0 run to close the half. They extended that to 16-0 into the third, but some late, hot Miami shooting ended up cutting a point off Boston’s lead. The fourth belonged to the Heat, who outscored Boston by 10 in the quarter behind Adebayo and Haywood Highsmith, and Boston has now lost two straight, including its first on the second night of a back-to-back.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Stretch struggles: The Celtics' execution down the stretch was not good at all, culminating in a brutal turnover from Jayson Tatum trying to throw a cross-court pass to Grant Williams in the corner with 1.2 seconds left. 

"Just a bad read. They doubled Rob's roll to the basket. I should've just threw it to D-White in the slot,” Tatum admitted. “Throwing a cross-court pass that late that time of the game is pretty risky and it backfired on me."

Tired legs: Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Robert Williams played the whole fourth quarter and it showed down the stretch. Shots were left short, Williams wasn’t getting to offensive rebounds the way he had earlier in the game, and defensive rotations were slow. 

Amazingly, not having Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, and Al Horford made a difference when it mattered. 

Zoning out: I think the combination of these first two items led to this one. The Heat zone defense shouldn’t have been a surprise, but guys who don’t face it very often were put in situations where they might have been too tired to recognize what needed to be done.

“Our spacing was a little off,” Joe Mazzulla said. “They were physical, just couldn't get to a right spacing in the zone. Got a couple good looks, didn't make 'em. But some of those misses led to transition opportunities and that's when they're at their best, especially in the fourth quarter.”

TURNING POINT

The Celtics scored their 87th point on a Robert Williams alley oop to go up by 10 with 8:47 left. When Tatum scored points 88 and 89, the clock read 2:19, and Miami had scored 15 straight points. Boston managed to tie things, but they were out of gas after that. Not going to win many games going 6:28 minutes in the fourth quarter without scoring. 

EVERYBODY WAS UP AND DOWN

No one had a good overall game. No one had a bad overall game. Everyone had their good moments and their bad moments. So I’m taking some liberties with this section to declare that everyone who played in this game was both up and down. Here are the notables: 

Jayson Tatum: I think he ran out of gas in the fourth (more on this later). He finished with great numbers: 31 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists on 50/40/78.6 splits. He got to the line 14 times. But he was only 1-4 in the fourth with no assists. He turned the ball over 5 times in the second half. 

Derrick White: He was also really good in the first half and less so in the second, finishing with 23 points and 6 assists. He had some nice moments in the second half, though, and it looked like he might be able to help close the game out with his passing. But his shots, a lot of them floaters, fell short at the end. He split 30/20/100 in the second half after going 57/50/80 in the first half. 

Grant Williams: His final numbers looked good enough: 10 points on a perfect 3-3 from 3 and 4 rebounds, but every time I looked up, it seemed he was trying to do way too much. I guess this week is Goldilocks week for him, because he didn’t do enough on offense against Orlando and he tried to do too much against Miami. Maybe he’ll be just right against New York. 

Payton Pritchard: 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists were fine in 42:28 of play (!!), but he shot 41.2% from the field and 22% from deep. That's not going to cut it. 

Sam Hauser: 0-6 from the field is awful but he was actually able to stay on the floor because of his defense. Boston’s 11-0 run to end the first half featured some of the best defense we’ve seen him play. Still, a goose egg in the shooting column is bad news for him. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Minutes are an issue

Tatum played 40 minutes in this game on a back-to-back where he played 38 minutes the night before. He did get a day off, but that was after playing 48 against Golden State and 40 against Charlotte.

He’s durable and he’s young. He wants to play. I get all that. And maybe he’s fine and this is all worrying for nothing. They have a training staff and specialists to monitor all of this, so maybe I’m being overly cautious. 

But also, I believe a fresher Tatum finishes this game off for Boston. 

On top of that, I think some guys may not be getting full opportunities because of the way minutes are being distributed. I think there are 10 minutes per game somewhere just in saved minutes between Tatum and Jaylen Brown, that could go to someone to get him more ready in case he’s needed. 

In fact, Mazzulla even referenced the minutes when he explained Brown’s absence in this game.

“Just felt like with the over-extended minutes the last few games he was a little more sore than usual when he woke up today,” he said. “So we just thought that was best.”

There is a balance here that needs to be struck, but I think just adding 60-90 seconds to each end of subbing these guys in and out will work. Instead of coming out at the 6:00 mark, maybe Tatum comes out at the 7:00 mark and returns a minute later. 

With this team’s depth, that should be more than manageable. 

Keeping these guys fresh for a deep playoff run was supposed to be a priority heading into this season. It’s not happening. It will be a disaster if they run out of gas again before the playoffs are over. 

Keep the stars fresh and give the depth an opportunity to shine. 

Next up: The Celtics return home to face the Knicks Thursday night