The Boston Celtics The Celtics take mourned losing on their home court for two days. And they took all of their frustration out when they could play again.
The end product is a masterwork of defense.
The Boston Celtics easily defeated the Miami Heat 104-84 on Saturday night to grab a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored 22 points to lead a balanced attack.
The Celtics’ coach Joe Mazzella stated, “We didn’t make too many adjustments.” “We exerted a slight increase in intensity and controlled the game’s tempo and physicality.” It’s the small tasks that you must complete in the face of extreme stress and hardship. I believed that our guys done a fantastic job tonight of dictating that.
The Celtics, who have gone 9-2 in their last 11 games and 6-1 in their last seven playoff contests, will play Game 4 on Monday in Miami.
For the Celtics, who won Game 3 handily and recaptured the home-court advantage they had given up to Miami in Game 2 at Boston, Tatum contributed 10 rebounds and six assists. For the Celtics, Derrick White scored sixteen points and Kristaps Porzingis scored eighteen.
Boston on defense and Miami on offense last saw these kinds of scores in Game 5 of the East finals on May 25, 2022, a 93-80 away victory for the Celtics that advanced them to the NBA Finals. Since then, every game the Heat had scored over 84 points and every game the Celtics had allowed more above 84 in each subsequent game.
“On the defensive end, that’s where we’re going to win games,” Tatum stated.
For the eighth-seeded Miami team, which is still missing starting players Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier due to injury, Bam Adebayo scored 20 points. For the Heat, Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 12 and Nikola Jove and Tyler Hero each scored 15.
Erik Polestar, the coach of the Heat, stated, “They took us out of stuff we would like to get to.” “They were the squad with more strength. They physically assaulted us, harassed us online, got past obstacles, warped displays, and more. For that, you must give them credit. They were the team that was more aggressive and physical on both sides of the game.
This season, Boston has made a lot of bounce-back plays. The Celtics, who have the best overall playoff seed, don’t lose very often, and when they do, they usually bounce back to win the next game. This season, Boston has improved to 15-4 in the matchup that comes right after a loss, with an average victory margin of 12.2 points.
“Just mentality,” Brown remarked. “I think that opened up the game because we focused on defense and tried to make them uncomfortable a little bit.”
Boston defeated Miami for the fifth time in six encounters this season without trailing in either of the two games. Boston won both games 114-94. After the first quarter, the Celtics lead 21–12, indicating that the Heat would not have it easy.
For a brief moment in the middle of the second quarter, Miami appeared to have survived the storm. The building had some energy, the Heat were on the rise, and Hero attempted a 3-point shot that would have put the team in the lead by ten points.
It rimmed the edge. It was not a weathered storm. Actually, it was just getting started.
The game was never in doubt again as the Celtics outscored Miami 20-8 in the following 4 and a half minutes to take a 61-36 lead. Boston was in complete control at the half, leading 63–39. They were ahead 19–2 in points off turnovers, 26–12 in points scored in the paint, 27–15 in rebounds, and 13–6 in assists.
Miami was never able to draw closer than 18 points after halftime, as the lead grew to 29 in the second half.
They were more aggressive than we were right away, according to Jove. “That ought not to be taking place.”
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