Much like I was saying last fall and winter about the hapless Patriots, this miserable season for the Celtics (35-34 overall, 21-15 home) has to end and thankfully for us, that will probably come soon. Tonight at the TD Garden, the Heat (38-31 overall, 18-16 away) clinched a playoff spot and in the process, relegated Boston to the gutter I mean the lovely Play-In Tournament next week as the likely No. 7 seed. In their first game knowing that star Jaylen Brown (upcoming wrist surgery) was not going to return to this sinking ship of a campaign, the C's at least tried but even if Brown and Robert Williams (turf toe) were in the lineup, it does not matter. Who could argue at this point that Miami is not simply a better team than them? They took the season series 2-1 and they are playing like a group that is peaking as they head into the postseason (7-3 in their last 10 games) while the Celtics continue to unravel like you read about (3-7 in their last 10 games).
Miami's best player Jimmy Butler (13 points) did not even play in the second half after getting poked in the eye by Celtics guard Marcus Smart (10 points, 5 assists) in the second quarter. The Heat are so much deeper than the C's and they also have a cohesive gameplan which is a big advantage over the Celts who often play like they all just met earlier that same day. Heat guard Tyler Herro (24 points, 11 rebounds) single-handedly outscored the Celtics bench (20 points combined) by himself. Steady center Bam Adebayo (7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks) and sweet shooting guard Duncan Robinson both scored 22 points while guard Kendrick Nunn added 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals. For the Celtics, point guard Kemba Walker (game-high 36 points, 7 rebounds), swingman Jayson Tatum (33 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) and shooting guard Evan Fournier (20 points, 8 assists, 2 blocks) were all very good but nobody else really did anything for the home team.
It was tied at 28 after the first quarter and Miami led by six points (62-56) at halftime. The Heat started to take over some more in the third quarter (31-23) and they opened up a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter when backup point guard Goran Dragic (17 points) drained a 3-pointer to make it 105-84. From there, the Celts did their usual window dressing fake comeback thing which makes the final score look more respectable when in reality, it could not have mattered less. This evening was the last home game of the regular season for Boston, now they have three road games in the next five days to fully sort this mess out before the Play-In Tournament begins next Tuesday.
Boston is at Cleveland (21-48 overall, 12-23 home) tomorrow night (8, NBC Boston), they go to Minnesota (22-47 overall, 12-21 home) on Saturday (time TBA, NBC Sports Boston) and it ends on Sunday (time TBA, NBC Sports Boston) at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks (38-31 overall, 22-11 home) who are tied with the Heat and Hawks (38-31) for fourth-place in the Eastern Conference with each team having three games left. The Celtics have already lost to the Cavs earlier this season and needed overtime to beat the T-Wolves so I would normally say that they should win those games to get tuned up for next week but let's be honest, it could not matter less at this point. They are going nowhere fast and the off-season needs to happen as quickly as possible.
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