Takeaways and details from Heat’s comeback win over Celtics behind Bam Adebayo’s excellence
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 98-95 comeback win over the league-leading Boston Celtics (35-14) on Tuesday night at Miami Dade Arena to improve to 2-0 on its three-game homestand. The Heat (27-22) is now five games above .500 for the first time this season and closes the homestand on Friday against the Orlando Magic:
What was supposed to be an Eastern Conference finals rematch was far from it with key players missing on both sides. So instead, Bam Adebayo stole the show to lead the Heat to the comeback win.
The Celtics were without three regular starters — Jaylen Brown (right adductor injury management), Al Horford (low back stiffness) and Marcus Smart (right ankle sprain) — and a key reserve — Malcolm Brogdon (personal reasons) — on the second night of their back-to-back after falling to the Magic in Orlando on Monday.
The Heat was without star Jimmy Butler, who was a late scratch Tuesday because of lower back tightness.
But Adebayo was available for the Heat and he served as the catalyst behind the victory, finishing with 30 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from the foul line, 15 rebounds, two steals and one block in 37 minutes.
Adebayo’s best work came in the second half, when he turned his aggressiveness and assertiveness up a notch to record 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field while grabbing 12 rebounds in the final two quarters to lead the rally.
“I think it just really got going in the third and fourth quarter,” Adebayo said of his aggressive mindset on Tuesday. “Coach is doing a great job of emphasizing getting me the ball and I’m just taking advantage of my opportunity.”
How did it all unfold?
It was a back-and-forth first half that included 16 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Celtics finally built some separation by closing the second quarter on an 11-0 run to enter halftime with an eight-point lead.
The Celtics extended that run to 19-2 after the break with a strong start to the third quarter to push their lead to 14 points early in the second half.
The Heat slowly chipped away at the deficit, but the Celtics still found themselves ahead by 10 points with 8:47 to play.
That’s when the Heat’s game-winning run began.
The Heat went on to score 15 unanswered points over the next five minutes to rally and pull ahead by five points with 3:42 remaining. This run included a scoreless stretch for the Celtics that lasted 6:37, as Boston missed 10 consecutive field-goal attempts during a span that began with 8:47 left in the fourth quarter and finally ended when Jayson Tatum made a jump shot with 2:19 to play.
The Celtics still had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, though, tying the game at 95 on a Grant Williams three-pointer with 42.6 seconds to play.
But Adebayo hit what ended up as the game-winner on the other end, making a turnaround jumper over Williams from the free-throw line to give the Heat a two-point lead with 20.4 seconds left. Tyler Herro was blitzed by two defenders on the play, but made the right read to find Adebayo for the game-deciding basket.
“I love the two-man collaboration that he and Tyler were going to,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Adebayo-Herro pick-and-roll. “I wanted them to get to more of that in the first half, but they really settled in down the stretch. It was just really good coherent actions for us.”
With a chance for the Celtics to tie or take the lead, Herro then intercepted a cross-court pass from Tatum to force the costly turnover with 1.2 seconds remaining.
After the Heat completed the inbounds pass, the Celtics committed the intentional foul on forward Haywood Highsmith with 0.6 seconds to play. Highsmith made one of two free throws to push Miami’s lead to three points.
With so little time remaining, the Celtics’ final shot was a 28-foot three-point heave from guard Payton Pritchard that did not reach the rim as the final buzzer sounded to allow the Heat to escape with the win.
The Heat, which owns the NBA’s sixth-best defensive rating this season, limited the Celtics to just 13 points on 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) shooting from the field and 2-of-10 shooting on threes in the fourth quarter.
Tatum finished with a game-high 31 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc and 11-of-14 shooting from the foul line, 14 rebounds and seven assists. But after a 21-point first half, Tatum scored just 10 points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field and committed five turnovers in the second half.
Tuesday marked the Heat’s 32nd clutch game (one that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter) of the season, which is the second-most in the NBA. Miami holds an 18-14 clutch record.
The Heat’s offense was not good. But it was able to overcome its offensive issues by finishing with a huge edge in field-goal attempts.
The Heat entered with the NBA fifth-worst offensive rating (scoring 111 points per 100 possessions), fifth-worst team field-goal percentage (45.5 percent) and fourth-worst team three-point percentage (33.5 percent) this season.
Those struggles continued on Tuesday.
The Heat shot just 36.2 percent from the field in the win. Miami also scored only 103.2 points per 100 possessions for an offensive rating that would be the worst among NBA teams for the season and only 80.6 points per 100 half-court plays for a half-court offensive rating that ranks in the NBA’s 10th percentile for the season.
Take out Adebayo’s excellent performance and the rest of the Heat’s roster combined for just 68 points on 22-of-72 (30.6 percent) shooting from the field in the win.
Herro finished with just nine points on 4-of-19 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 shooting on threes.
Kyle Lowry tied a season-low with only two points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting on threes.
Victor Oladipo scored an inefficient 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field and 2-of-8 shooting from three-point range.
Gabe Vincent ended the night with seven points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field.
Caleb Martin finished with five points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field.
But the Heat still managed to score more points than the Celtics. How?
Miami closed Tuesday’s victory with a decisive 94-74 advantage in field-goal attempts.
The Heat created extra opportunities by winning the offensive rebounding battle 14-5 to score 16 second-chance points.
The Heat also limited its turnovers to eight and forced the Celtics into a bunch of empty possessions. Boston committed 17 turnovers that Miami turned into 17 points.
Because of this, the Heat was able to improve to 3-9 in games this season that it finishes with an overall offensive rating worse than 105 points scored per 100 possessions.
“This is what we’ve been emphasizing with our team right now,” Spoelstra said. “We can win basketball games whether we feel like we’re in rhythm or we feel like the offense is flowing, whether we have confidence or not. It doesn’t matter. It’s about impacting the game and impacting the win, ultimately.
“If we have to win ugly, so be it.”
Butler was ruled out of Tuesday’s game just about an hour before tipoff.
While Butler was not initially on the Heat’s injury report, the team announced shortly before the start of the game that he would be unavailable because of lower back tightness. The Heat said Butler’s back issue developed during pregame warmups.
Tuesday marked the 15th game that Butler has missed this season and the first game he has missed since Dec. 31, with most of the games he has been unavailable for this season coming because of a lingering right knee issue. He had played in 11 straight games before sitting out the Heat’s win over the Celtics.
The Heat improved to 8-7 in games without Butler this season.
The Heat was also without Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle surgery) on Tuesday.
Butler’s absence forced the Heat to again go away from its preferred starting lineup, with Max Strus starting in his place on Tuesday. Highsmith then stepped up in Strus’ place in the bench rotation.
The Heat went with the starting lineup of Lowry, Herro, Strus, Martin and Adebayo for the seventh time this season.
The Heat had been able to use its preferred starting lineup of Lowry, Herro, Butler, Martin and Adebayo in each of the previous three games, but this change ended that streak. The longest string of consecutive games that Miami has been able to go with its preferred starting group is four, and that stretch came in the second week of the season in late October.
As the fill-in starter, Strus closed Tuesday’s win with 13 points with the help of 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range, seven rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes. He scored each of his 13 points in the first quarter.
Strus, whose usual role is as a reserve, has now started more games than he’s played off the bench this season because of the Heat’s injury issues. He has made 25 starts and has been used as a reserve in 22 games.
With Strus moved into the starting lineup on Tuesday, Highsmith took advantage of the opportunity to play extended minutes in the opening Strus left behind in the Heat’s bench rotation.
Highsmith finished the win as the Heat’s second-leading scorer behind Adebayo with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting on threes, 10 rebounds, one steal and a plus/minus of plus-12 in 30 minutes. He scored 12 of his 15 points while playing 19 minutes in the second half, making his presence felt on the defensive end.
“H just kind of inspired that defense in the second half just with his multiple efforts and then everybody else kind of joined the party from there,” Spoelstra said.
The Heat continues to take advantage of short-handed rosters during its best stretch of the season.
With Tuesday’s victory, the Heat has won 15 of its last 22 games following a 12-15 start to the season.
But of the Heat’s 15 wins during this stretch, only six have come against teams that entered Tuesday with a winning record — one vs. Los Angeles Clippers, two vs. Milwaukee Bucks, two vs. New Orleans Pelicans and one vs. Celtics.
The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard in their loss to the Heat, the Bucks did not have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton in their two losses to the Heat, the Pelicans did not have Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson in their two losses to the Heat, and the Celtics did not have Brown, Horford, Smart or Brogdon in their loss to the Heat during this stretch.
Of course, the Heat has also dealt with its own injury issues during this time. Miami entered Tuesday with the second-most missed games in the NBA (201 missed games) this season due to injury, according to Spotrac.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 10:05 PM.
