Hospital Celtics Cruise through the Heat of (Miami) Heat
The Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat 108-89 in the Garden last night. The Celtics and Heat both played back to backs from Sunday, as both teams lost their respective road matchups. The Celtics lost to the Cavs, and the Heat lost to the Raptors. Going into this matchup, there were plenty of injuries to be accounted for. The Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis due to injury management, Al Horford for rest, and Jrue Holiday with a knee injury. The Heat were without Jimmy Butler, also due to a knee injury, Kevin Love with back spasms, Nikola Jovic with an ankle sprain, and Kel’el Ware with a foot injury. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White were all questionable for this game, but all three of them played.
The Celtics continue to show why they are the reining champs and how much depth they truly have on their roster. JT and JB in this matchup combined 47 points on 15/42 shooting, and 7/23 from 3. But that didn’t make the Celtics flinch. The dagger duo of Payton Pritchard and Derrick White stepped up big time. Crypto P had 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block, while shooting 58% from the field. Derrick White showed out with a 19 point, 6 rebound, 8 assist performance, with a multitude of clutch shots. JT got 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, and shows that even if he is not scoring he is one of the most dangerous players to go up against. JB lead the team in scoring with 29 points, and also grabbed 7 rebounds and 4 assists of his own. But it was the Celtics defense that really stood out. It was the second lowest point total the Celtics defense have given up in the Joe Mazzulla era, and it was the lowest Opponent field goal percentage in his tenure as a coach. A major reason for this success was the interior presence of Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta. Luke Kornet rejected 6 shots, and caused a clear problem for the Heat in this one. And even in only 14 minutes, Neemy proved why he is so valued on this roster, blocking 2 shots on his own. This is the type of defense the Celtics can play up to, and if they do for the rest of the year, then it will be a major problem for the league.
For the Heat, there were not many bright spots. All of their double digit scorers shot 44% from the field or worse. Jamie Jaquez Jr. had a 19/10/3/3 game on 35% shooting. Tyler Herro: 19/5/4 on 31%. And Bam Adebayo, who was projected to have a big night with no KP or Big Al, only scored 15 points, 11 of which came in the 4th after the game was out of hand, and shot 33% from the field. He also grabbed 8 rebounds and 5 assists. The Heat are not at the level that they once were, and it is showing. Erik Spolestra is still one of, if not the best coach in the NBA, but the incompetent nature of Pat Riley either holding onto pieces or too long, or not getting rid of players at all to bring in more impactful, more developed players has the Heat not looking like a threat in the east for the first time in a long time. Jimmy Butler is getting a lot older, Bam isn’t playing well as of now, and Tyler Herro is finally balling. I do think the Heat might make the play-in, but I would not be surprised if a massive revamp for this team is in the near future.
The Celtics move onto their second game of their 4 game homestand as they face off in a matchup against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. And the Heat travel back to Miami to host former Heat legend, Lebron James and the LA Lakers in what should be an interesting matchup.
