The Boston Celtics won three of the four quarters Wednesday night, but lost the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals.
That’s how dominant the Miami Heat was in the third quarter, outscoring the Celtics 46-25 in the period to turn a nine-point halftime deficit into a 12-point lead entering the fourth quarter on its way to a 123-116 Game 1 win in Boston. It marked the most points the Heat has scored in any playoff quarter in franchise history.
“We won three out of the four quarters,” Celtics first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla said, with Game 2 set for Friday at TD Garden (8:30 p.m., TNT). “We got away from who we are in the third quarter.”
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The 21-point advantage represented the largest margin that the Heat has won any quarter by this season. It also marked the most points the Celtics have lost a quarter by since last season’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
While Mazzulla and Celtics players lamented Wednesday’s ugly third quarter, they also pointed out they outscored the Heat by a total of 14 points in the other three quarters of Game 1.
“We were prepared,” Mazzulla said. “We played harder than them in the first half. And they outplayed us for one quarter. So we were prepared for it. We had the right mind-set heading into the game.”
Two areas that allowed the Heat to take control of the game in the third period was its ability to take care of the ball and limit the Celtics’ paint opportunities. After committing 11 turnovers and allowing 40 paint points in the first half, the Heat had just one turnover and outscored the Celtics 18-10 in the paint in the third quarter.
It also helped that the Heat shot 17 of 26 (65.4 percent) from the field and 6 of 9 (66.7 percent) from three-point range in the quarter, while the Celtics finished the period with more turnovers (four) than made threes (three).
“We had, obviously, a lot of stops at the beginning of the quarter,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Then that kind of led to some easy ones, and then we got into a great flow that quarter. Maybe we don’t have another quarter like that. You have to be open to whatever the competition presents, whatever the next game is going to present. We might have to do it a different way.”
Whatever happens, the Celtics know they need to make some adjustments entering Game 2. Most of those adjustments will probably come from watching the film of Wednesday’s third quarter.
“The only thing we need to adjust to is picking up our physicality and playing some damn defense,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “That’s the only thing they switched. They didn’t change anything from the first half that they weren’t doing, they just upped their physicality and that’s it. There’s nothing tactical, Xs and Os, it’s just come out and guard your yard.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ With Jimmy Butler totaling 35 points, Bam Adebayo scoring 20 points and Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry adding 15 points apiece in Wednesday’s Game 1 win, the Heat tied an NBA record with six players scoring at least 15 points in a playoff game.
“It’s great,” Strus said of the Heat’s balanced boxscore to begin the East finals. “We’re going to need it in this series and from here on out. We’re all capable of stepping up, we’re all ready for the moment.”
▪ The Celtics, which averaged the second-most three-point attempts (42.6 per game) this regular season, shot just 29 threes in Game 1. Boston is 0-3 this season when shooting fewer than 30 threes in a game.
But the Celtics did close Wednesday’s loss with 62 paint points, including 40 in the first half. The 62 paint points are tied for the most the Heat has given up in a game during this year’s playoffs.
“They were driving the ball very aggressively,” Spoelstra said. “They do both, so it’s not like they’re just trying to get threes. I think we had good intention of trying to take those away, but we also gave up a lot of drives, a lot of opportunities in the paint, a lot of stuff at the rim, particularly in that first half. So we have to try to shore that up in a way that you’re not also giving up threes.”
▪ The Heat finished Game 1 in Boston with 122 points on a scorching 54.1 percent shooting from the field and 16 of 31 (51.6 percent) shooting from three-point range. It marked the 16th time in franchise history that the Heat has shot 50 percent or better from the field and three-point range in a playoff game and just the second time since 2016.
In addition, the Heat shot an ultra-efficient 10 of 15 (66.7 percent) on non-paint twos on Wednesday.
“They’re a good defense,” Spoelstra said of the Celtics. “They do multiple schemes. You can’t just get to one thing. At some point, you have to have some shot-making, you have to have timely plays.”
▪ What’s the Heat’s mood after opening the East finals with a road win?
“Not satisfied,” Vincent said. “We’re looking forward to Game 2.”
▪ The Heat remains without guards Tyler Herro (hand surgery) and Victor Oladipo (knee surgery) for Game 2. Center Omer Yurtseven, who has not been in Miami’s playoff rotation, is listed as questionable with a nose contusion.
The Celtics’ only rotation player on the injury report for Game 2 is the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, who is probable with a right forearm strain.
Originally published