Assertive Adebayo delivers, takeaways from Heat’s Game 3 win in Boston. And a Butler update
Five takeaways from the top-seeded Miami Heat’s 109-103 win over the second-seeded Boston Celtics on Saturday night at TD Garden. The Heat holds a 2-1 series lead, with Game 4 set for Monday in Boston:
The Heat came away with one of its gutsiest and most important wins of the season on the road while missing its best player for half of the game.
After recording eight points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 20 first-half minutes, Jimmy Butler did not play in the second half of Game 3 because of right knee inflammation.
Butler also missed Game 5 of the Heat’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks because of right knee inflammation. But he was able to return in Miami’s next game to open the second round against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He’s been able to manage this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler’s knee issue. “I think the next two days will be really important, obviously.
“But he’s a great competitor. Even when he’s out there, he was able to be efficient and he was able to defend. His competitiveness will overtake everything and he’s going to put it all out there. At halftime, really, the trainers made the call [to hold him out].”
Without Butler, Victor Oladipo started the second half in Butler’s place. Oladipo didn’t play in the first half, but contributed solid defense in Butler’s absence with four steals and quality on-ball defense on the Celtics’ duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in 20 second-half minutes.
“His minutes in the second half were so important defensively against their two studs,” Spoelstra said of Oladipo. “And then offensively, he just gave us a facsimile of a lot of the stuff we do with Jimmy. And I mean that as the ultimate compliment.”
The Butler-less Heat was outscored 56-47 in the second half, but the 15-point lead it built in the first half was enough to hold on for the win.
If Butler is forced to miss more time in the East finals because of his swollen right knee, it would obviously be a tough blow for the Heat. But a league source told the Miami Herald on Saturday night that Butler’s injury is not considered significant and there’s a chance he could play in Game 4 on Monday.
Spoelstra said following Saturday’s win that an MRI wouldn’t be needed on Butler’s knee.
Butler, who has arguably been the NBA’s best player in this year’s playoffs, entered Saturday averaging 29.8 points on 54 percent shooting from the field, 7.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.2 steals this postseason.
In addition to Butler, Heat guard Tyler Herro suffered an apparent leg injury in Game 3. Herro, who struggled with just eight points on 4-of-15 shooting in 20 minutes on Saturday, did not play in the final 8:11 of the win in part because of the injury as he sat on the bench with a wrap around his quad.
Heat forward P.J. Tucker, who was questionable for Game 3 because of left knee irritation, played through the pain to finish with 17 points and seven rebounds in 38 minutes.
“I do not have any updates on anybody,” a seemingly exhausted Spoelstra said late Saturday night. “We’re just going to go back to our cave and just recoup and maybe I’ll have some information for you tomorrow.”
Each of the first three games of the series has been decided by one sustained stretch of dominance. The Heat’s incredible first quarter was the difference in Game 3.
The Heat came out and played a near perfect first quarter, outscoring the Celtics 39-18 in a period that drew some boos from the Boston crowd.
The Heat shot 16 of 25 (64 percent) from the field and 5 of 7 (71.4 percent) from three-point range in the opening quarter, while the Celtics shot just 5 of 18 (27.8 percent) from the field and 1 of 6 (16.7 percent) from three-point range in the period.
The result was a 21-point Heat lead entering the second quarter.
“We got embarrassed at home,” Heat forward Max Strus said, referring to the Heat’s 25-point Game 2 loss at FTX Arena on Thursday. “We had a bad taste in our mouth. So we wanted to come out from the jump and show that we were here and that we’re going to keep fighting.”
Miami’s 39 points tied for the most it has scored in a single quarter this postseason, as it also totaled 39 points in the third quarter of Game 1 against the Celtics (more on that soon) and the fourth quarter of Game 5 of its second-round series against the 76ers.
The Celtics allowed 162.5 points per 100 possessions in the first quarter, which is its worst defensive rating for any quarter this postseason.
Miami didn’t win another quarter the rest of the way, as the Celtics won the second quarter 29-23, the teams tied 25-25 in the third quarter and the Celtics won the fourth quarter 31-22.
Boston outscored Miami 85-70 over the final three quarters and cut the Heat’s lead to one with 2:40 left in the fourth period.
Game 3 was a continuation of a weird trend that has helped decide the first three games of the East finals.
The Heat took Game 1 because it won the third quarter 39-14. Boston outscored Miami 93-79 in the other three quarters, but it couldn’t overcome the Heat’s dominant third period.
The Celtics took Game 2 behind a strong first half that they won 70-45. Miami and Boston played to a 57-57 tie in the second half.
The Heat won Game 3 because of an immaculate first quarter.
With these wild swings, the Heat holds a 2-1 series lead despite winning only two quarters during the first three games of the East finals (the third quarter of Game 1 and the first quarter of Game 3). According to Elias, the Heat is the first team in NBA playoff history to win just two quarters in the first three games and have a series lead.
After an underwhelming start to the series, Heat center Bam Adebayo was much more aggressive in Game 3.
Adebayo was assertive from the start, scoring 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field in the Heat’s tone-setting first quarter.
Considering that Adebayo scored a total of only 16 points on 10 shots in first two games of the East finals, he played with a much more aggressive approach in Game 3.
It wasn’t limited to the first quarter either, as Adebayo scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the second half while Butler was out.
Adebayo finished with 31 points on 15-of-22 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals and one block in 42 minutes. It marks the most shots he has taken in any game and the second-most points he has scored in a playoff game during his NBA career.
“He did his version of what Jimmy does in terms of do what’s necessary for the game,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “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.”
Adebayo deserves a lot of credit for his big night, but the Heat coaching staff also helped by putting him in positions to attack. The Heat made a noticeable effort to get Adebayo the ball early in the shot clock at the three-point line or mid-post in space, allowing him to use his combination of size and strength to beat bigger defenders off the dribble or shoot over smaller defenders.
“Same old play calls. Just different mentality,” Adebayo said when asked to explain the difference for him on Saturday. “They beat us like we stole something in Game 2. So that woke a fire up in all of us.”
Adebayo shot 6 of 6 at the rim, 7 of 9 on non-rim paint shots and 2 of 6 on midrange looks in Game 3.
Heat starting point guard Kyle Lowry returned and made a difference.
After missing the previous four games because of a strained left hamstring, Lowry finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 shooting on threes, one rebound, six assists and four steals in 29 minutes. The Heat outscored the Celtics by 10 points with Lowry on the court on Saturday.
“Felt good to be back,” Lowry said. “Honestly, I’ve only played four games, before tonight, in the playoffs. It’s tough trying to find a rhythm. But just having an opportunity to be out there with my guys is always fun.”
Lowry, who had missed eight of the previous 10 games because of his hamstring injury, helped lift the Heat to a fast start with his hit ahead passes, calmed the offense down when Butler went out and held his own on the defensive end.
Most importantly, Lowry’s hamstring looked to hold up.
After returning from a four-game absence in the second round, he re-aggravated the injury in his second game back in Game 4 of the Heat’s second-round series against the 76ers. Lowry went on to miss the next four games before returning to play on Saturday.
At the end of Game 3 in Boston, Lowry wasn’t hurt. Instead, he pulled off a well-timed steal of an inbounds pass with 42.5 seconds to play and then found Strus for a layup seconds later to put the Heat ahead by nine and seal the win.
Strus made a few big plays down the stretch, finishing with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from deep, four rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes. His most important shot of the night came when he hit a three-pointer off an assist from Lowry with 2:16 left in the fourth quarter to extend the Heat’s lead from one to four points.
The Heat also won Game 3 because it finished with 22 more shot attempts than the Celtics.
The Celtics actually shot more efficiently from the field and three-point range while outscoring the Heat 23-12 at the free-throw line on Saturday. But Miami was able to overcome that by taking 92 shots compared to Boston’s 70 field goal attempts.
How did the Heat manage to finish with that advantage?
Mostly because the Heat committed just nine turnovers and forced the Celtics into 24 turnovers that turned into 33 points for Miami. The Heat was very disruptive in the passing lanes, recording 19 steals in Game 3.
The 19 steals represented a new playoff record for the Heat and it marked the second-most steals any team has recorded in a playoff game in NBA history. The NBA playoff record for any team is 20 steals.
The Heat also did a fantastic job in slowing Tatum, who finished Game 3 with 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 shooting on threes. However, Brown went off for 40 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the field for the Celtics.
But Tatum and Brown were sloppy, combining for 13 of the Celtics’ 24 turnovers.
This story was originally published May 22, 2022 at 1:00 AM.
