The roller coaster of emotions that is the Celtics showed no signs of slowing down as they followed up Sunday's Game 7 blowout of the Sixers with a humbling 123-116 loss to the Heat tonight at TD Garden in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami's superstar small forward Jimmy Butler (game-high 35 points, 7 assists, career playoff high 6 steals, 5 rebounds) was predictably brilliant as the Heat used a ridiculous third quarter (where they outscored Boston 46-25) to overcome a 13-point deficit and hang on for a 1-0 series lead. The C's apparently have not learned anything from their past mistakes as they lost Game 1 of the ECF last year vs. Miami and they even gagged away Game 1 against Philly a few weeks ago. The good news is that they obviously won both of those series but how many times can you count on that happening?
We expect Butler to be a bit of a one-man show but that was far from the case this evening since center Bam Adebayo added 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists, point guard Gabe Vincent (WHO?) and shooting guard Max Strus both scored 15 points apiece while small forward Gabe Martin and backup point guard Kyle Lowry each notched 15 points off the bench as well. For the home team, their superstar small forward Jayson Tatum had about the quietest 30-point performance that you will ever see. Somehow he did not take a single shot in the fourth quarter as his team tried to rally (outscoring Miami 25-20) and he compounded that with three mind-numbing turnovers including two traveling violations.
Boston's star shooting guard Jaylen Brown put up 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists but he also was not much of a factor particularly after his hand started gushing blood late in the contest (seriously, that still hasn't fully healed yet?). Point guard Marcus Smart (13 points, 11 assists, 2 steals) had a double-double but he was pretty quiet after a great first half. Center Robert Williams (14 points, 7 rebounds) was in the starting lineup again and came out strong but he was mostly relegated to the bench in the second half which was strange. Backup point guard Malcolm Brogdon scored 19 points while guard Derrick White tossed in 11 points off the bench.
The first quarter was pretty competitive as the Celts led 30-28 and then 66-57 at halftime. The Heat's offense was pathetic in the regular season where they were the lowest scoring team in the league but they have picked it up in a major way during this unlikely playoff run. Still, how do you let Butler and this collection of undrafted nobodies set a franchise record for points in a quarter (on the road no less!)? Miami beat Boston at their own game because they shot better from the field (54.1%-51.9%), hit six more 3-pointers (16-10), they had twice as many steals (12-6) and they committed three less turnovers (15-12).
It is impossible to predict anything with the C's this postseason but they did win Game 2 vs. the Sixers so I would expect a better and more focused effort on Friday (8:30, TNT) against the Heat. The difference though between Atlanta, Philadelphia and Miami is that the Heat are not going to just fall apart on their own. This is a very proud group that has been to the Eastern Conference Finals in three out of the last four years and they made the NBA Finals in the 2020 bubble. Boston will have to contain Butler more and make sure that the others do not go off as much as they did in Game 1. Nobody thought that this series would be easy for the Celtics but this was a sobering punch to the mouth right away, good times!
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