How Heat turned things around in third quarter, other takeaways from Game 1 win over Celtics
Five takeaways from the top-seeded Miami Heat’s 118-107 win over the second-seeded Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at FTX Arena. The Heat leads the Eastern Conference finals 1-0, with Game 2 set for Thursday in Miami:
After a rough first half, the Heat completely changed the game with a dominant third quarter.
How bad was the first half for the Heat?
▪ The Celtics outscored the Heat 13-6 in fast-break points in the first half. Miami entered allowing just 10.5 fast-break points per game in the playoffs.
▪ The Celtics scored 42 paint points on 21-of-28 shooting in the first half. Miami entered limiting opponents to just 38.2 paint points per game in the playoffs.
▪ Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum totaled 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field in the first half. Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young averaged 15.4 points per game against the Heat in the first round and Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden averaged 18.2 points per game against the Heat in the second round.
The result: The Heat entered halftime trailing 62-54.
“The guys were just really disappointed at halftime,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I barely needed to say anything. Everybody was just disappointed at our defensive effort and focus.”
But Miami came back and took full control of Game 1 with one of the best playoff quarters in franchise history. The Heat opened the third quarter with a 22-2 run and outscored the Celtics 39-14 in the period to turn an eight-point halftime deficit into a 17-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
It marked just the third time that the Heat has won a playoff quarter by 25 or more points in franchise history.
The Heat’s defense was the story of Tuesday’s third quarter, holding the Celtics to just 14 points on 2-of-15 shooting from the field and 0-of-7 shooting on threes. Boston also committed eight turnovers that the Heat turned into 12 points in the period.
The Heat, which was one of the NBA’s best at limiting opportunities around the rim, returned to form with the ultra-versatile Bam Adebayo anchoring the unit with two blocks in the period. After the Celtics shot an efficient 16 of 20 (80 percent) at the rim in the first half, they were limited to just 3-of-12 shooting at the rim in the third quarter.
“We contained the ball at the point of attack a little bit better,” Spoelstra said.
Boston’s first made basket of the third quarter came with 4:53 left in the period. It represented the Celtics’ longest drought without a made field goal to begin any quarter this season, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Playing off a bunch of Celtics misses and turnovers, Miami’s offense thrived against Boston’s vaunted defense to total 39 points on 11-of-22 (50 percent) shooting from the field in the third quarter.
Take out the Heat’s eye-opening third quarter, the Celtics won the rest of the game 93-79. But the third quarter did happen and it was enough to push the Heat to a 1-0 series lead.
“We were way too soft and they got to pretty much everything they wanted, and we finally picked it up in the third quarter,” Heat forward P.J. Tucker said.
As great as the third quarter was, Heat star Jimmy Butler’s performance may have been the most impressive aspect of Game 1.
Butler finished the win with 41 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field and 17-of-18 shooting from the foul line, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks. He shot 6 of 8 at the rim, 2 of 3 on non-rim paint shots and 4 of 6 from midrange.
It marked the fifth playoff game in Butler’s career that he has scored 40 or more points. Three of them have come this postseason.
Butler also became the first player in NBA history to record at least 40 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks in a playoff game since steals and blocks were first recorded in 1974. In the regular season, only Anthony Davis, David Robinson, James Harden, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have pulled it off.
“I think I speak for my teammates and the Miami Heat organization whenever I say I know what I’m capable of,” Butler said. “I don’t do this to score 40 points. I play the way that I play to win, by all means necessary, and it just so happened that I scored 40.”
As one would expect, Butler was a catalyst behind the Heat’s third-quarter display. He produced 17 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, one assist and three steals in the period.
The 17-point third quarter was the second-highest scoring playoff quarter of Butler’s NBA career.
“Jimmy just really inspired everybody in that third quarter,” Spoelstra said. “Those two steals kind of changed the momentum. And then every time and pocket in the game when we needed to control the game or get the right shot or make the right decision, Jimmy had his fingerprints on that.”
With Butler controlling the game, the Heat outscored the Celtics by 30.2 points per 100 possessions in the 41 minutes he played on Tuesday. Miami was outscored by 103.2 points per 100 possessions in the seven minutes he was on the bench.
Butler’s masterpiece also lifted the Heat to one of its best half-court offensive performances of the playoffs against what was the NBA’s top half-court defense in the regular season. Miami scored 112.2 points per 100 half-court plays in Game 1, according to Cleaning the Glass, which is its second-best single-game half-court offensive rating this postseason.
Butler, who has been arguably the NBA’s best player this postseason, is averaging an incredible 29.8 points on 53.5 percent shooting from the field, 7.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.3 steals in this year’s playoffs. Russell Westbrook and Michael Jordan are the only two players in NBA history who have averaged at least 29 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals during an entire playoff run.
“He’s relentless,” Adebayo said of Butler. “That’s the bottom line. He’s playing incredible basketball, getting guys open. Doing it on both ends.”
Tucker hobbled to the locker room, but was able to return to the game. That’s great news for the Heat.
After landing awkwardly on his right leg, Tucker hobbled back to the locker room with 6:25 left in the second quarter. He missed the rest of the first half.
But after having his right ankle re-taped, according to ESPN, Tucker returned to start the second half.
“He inspires everybody,” Spoelstra said of Tucker. “And by the time that I had walked into the locker room, he looked at me dead in the eye and said, ‘Don’t even think about it, I’m playing in the second half.’”
Tucker wasn’t 100 percent, as he ran around with a slight limp. But Tucker made a positive impact with three points, four rebounds, two assists and a plus/minus of plus-12 in 21 second-half minutes.
Tucker’s best work was done on the defensive end as Tatum’s primary defender.
Tatum dominated the first half, but the Heat found a way to slow him down after halftime.
After scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, four rebounds and five assists in the first two quarters, Tatum totaled just eight points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field, one assist and six turnovers in the second half.
Tatum closed Game 1 with more turnovers (seven) than assists (six).
“Just as a team, they’ve got guys that are really good defenders, play the passing lanes,” Tatum said of the Heat. “We knew that coming in. Didn’t do a great job, obviously, with the turnovers. But watch some film tomorrow and make some adjustments.”
Tatum shot 8 of 9 from inside the paint in the first half and just 0 of 2 from inside the paint in the second half.
The Heat found a way to shut down Young in the first round and slow down the 76ers’ All-Star duo of Joel Embiid and Harden in the second round. Miami is off to a strong start against Tatum in the East finals.
Both teams are dealing with uncertainty surrounding the status of at least one key player in the East finals.
As expected, Heat starting point guard Kyle Lowry missed Game 1 because of a strained left hamstring and his status for the rest of the series is up in the air. He has missed seven of the last nine games because of the injury, including Miami’s last three playoff games after re-aggravating his hamstring issue in Game 4 of the second round.
Guard Gabe Vincent again started in Lowry’s place and turned in quality minutes to set a new playoff-career high with 17 points on 3-of-7 shooting from deep. The Heat is 7-0 this postseason with Vincent in the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, the Celtics announced three hours prior to tipoff on Tuesday that starters Marcus Smart (right mid-foot sprain) and Al Horford (health and safety protocols) would also miss Game 1.
Forward Grant Williams and guard Derrick White started in their place.
Smart, who was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for this season, sprained his right foot in the Celtics’ Game 7 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. Smart was listed as questionable on the injury report before ultimately being ruled out.
“The soreness was too much, still some swelling, and limited basketball movements that he couldn’t do,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said before Tuesday’s game. “It was a possibility that he reacted well to treatment today and got better in these hours, but it wasn’t enough. ... Tried it out, tested it this morning, and we’ll see how he feels tomorrow after some more treatment and time off.”
Horford entered the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols on Tuesday.
The quarantine period is five days for asymptomatic and vaccinated NBA players to return if testing data shows they’re no longer at risk to be infectious. Based on Horford’s timeline, his five-day quarantine period would run through Sunday unless he produces consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart before then.
Udoka declined to say if Horford tested positive or when he might return.
“He’s feeling fine, and we’ll go from there, wait to see results and tests and future tests,” Udoka said.
If Horford can’t clear protocols until Monday, he would miss at least the first three games of the series.
This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 1:15 AM.
