10 takeaways from the Celtics dominant win over the Heat

1. Pure Dominance

In Miami’s first game against Boston without Jimmy Butler and with Tyler Herro out, the Celtics made quick work of the Heat in a 103-85 blowout victory.

After a slow first quarter, the Celtics really picked it up in the second and third quarter as they outscored the Heat 70-41 during that stretch. This was a pretty boring game overall as with Miami being down their best player, the Heat had no shooting on the floor and had no way of making this game competitive.

The Celtics cold shooting in the first and fourth quarters will make the percentages look bad but Boston’s offense was really humming in this game. They shot 39-85 (46%) from the field and 17-53 (32%) from three. Boston really dominated the painted area as they were able to take advantage of the Heat’s lack of rim protection.

2. Jayson Tatum: The King of the Third Quarter

After Jayson Tatum dropped 40 points on the New York Knicks on Saturday with 19 of those points coming in the third quarter, some may wonder what he was going to do for an encore.

After not making a basket in the first quarter, Tatum lit up the Heat for 33 points, 20 of which coming in the third quarter alone.

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Tatum started his third quarter performance with back-to-back three pointers over Andrew Wiggins. He then made an in and out dribble around an Al Horford screen and pulled up for a smooth fadeaway jumper over Kel’el Ware. Then he put his shoulder in to Wiggins’ chest and got off a finger roll that forced Erik Spoelstra to call a timeout.

This didn’t stop Tatum’s hot streak, as he continued to bully the Heat defenders for easy baskets. He drove his chest into Pelle Larson for a layup, then spun away from Terry Rozier on defense for a reverse layup, and finally, after crossing up Duncan Robinson, drove to the basket and got a tough and-1 bucket.

Jayson Tatum is currently averaging 9.3 points per game this season in the third quarter which is third in the NBA and is second in total third quarter points with 472.

3. Vintage Horford performance

Not every night Al Horford is going to put up a big performance but when they do come along, it’s always a great sight to see. Horford had a double-double against the Heat with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks on 6-11 shooting from the field and 4-8 shooting from three.

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When the Celtics were struggling to start the third quarter, it was Horford who ignited the offense with 8 straight points. He started with getting Kel’el Ware to bite on a pump fake three and got to the paint to hit a floater over Bam Adebayo.

The next bucket came when Tatum drove to the rim and dropped off a pass to Kristaps Porzingis under the basket who kicked it out to a wide open Horford for three at the top of the arc.

The final basket of this run came with Horford setting a screen for Sam Hauser so he could receive a pass from Tatum. Horford popped out to the three-point line and Hauser found him on a behind the back bounce pass for a three over Ware.

Horford also did a great job when it came to defending Bam Adebayo and fighting for positioning under the basket for rebounds. The best play on Bam was when he was able to strip him in the second quarter in isolation that would count as a block.

4. Hauser shifted the energy

After the Celtics put up only 18 points on 6-25 shooting from the field and 2-18 from three in the first quarter and with Tatum going to the bench, the Celtics needed a spark. That spark’s name was Sam Hauser.

Hauser was on fire in the first half of this game and finished with 15 points on 5-8 shooting from three, with 12 of those points coming in the second quarter.

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Sam Hauser’s first three of the second quarter came on the fast break as when Porzingis was driving to the basket, he kicked it out to Hauser for a corner three.

The next three came when Payton Pritchard was double teamed on the baseline and threw a cross court pass to wide open Hauser in the same exact place as his first three of the quarter.

The third three of the quarter came after Derrick White collapsed the defense and found Duncan Robinson out of position defending Hauser. White made a simple bounce pass and Hauser rose up over a late contest from Robinson.

The final three of the quarter came on another fast break. After Pritchard stole the ball on the defense, he came down and found Hauser for a wide open three that caused the Heat to finally call a timeout.

5. Sneaky good Pritchard game

Payton Pritchard’s scoring numbers might not have looked impressive with only 5 points on 2-9 shooting but he had a great game in almost every other aspect of the game. He finished with 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and a +17 on the night as he did a great job facilitating the Celtics offense when Tatum was off the floor.

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The first pass that was really impressive came on Sam Hauser’s second three of the night. He was double teamed on the baseline and found Hauser for three on a cross court pass.

Another great pass was when Pritchard was driving to the rim, pump faked like he was going to shoot a layup that got Duncan Robinson in the air, and then found Kristaps Porzingis streaking down the lane for an emphatic dunk.

6. Boston’s solid defense

The Celtics defense did a great job of making sure the Heat couldn’t find any rhythm on offense. Boston held Miami to only 34% shooting from the field and 24% shooting from three.

Boston did a great job getting out to Miami’s three point shooters and were able to force some timely turnovers that aided in the Celtics dominance in the second and third quarters.

One of the best defensive plays of the night for Boston was when Terry Rozier drove to the basket and Al Horford blocked him at the rim as he was rising up. Then when Bam Adebayo got the rebound, Jayson Tatum flew in and sent back his put back attempt on the same possession.

7. Starters balanced scoring

With the Celtics being undermanned tonight, only seven players scored points tonight with all but nine of their points (Pritchard: 5, Queta: 4) coming from the starting lineup. Jayson Tatum led the way with 33 points, Kristaps Porzingis had 17, Al Horford with 16, Sam Hauser with 15, and Derrick White with 13. The starting lineup combined to shoot 50% from the field and 38% from three.

8. Next man up mentality

With Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday out for the Celtics tonight, it was going to be up to the Stay Ready group to make an impact on tonight’s game and they did not disappoint.

Boston got big scoring nights from Horford and Hauser while Pritchard did a great job of facilitating the offense. Luke Kornet made an impact on defense and Baylor Scheierman also got some rotation minutes as well late in the first quarter.

Horford even went out of his way to praise Hauser, Kornet and Pritchard in his postgame interview and specifically highlighted Luke Kornet. Horford said Kornet has been key to the identity of the Celtics and has done a great job on defense when it came to protecting the rim.

9. Road Dogs

With the Celtics win in Miami tonight, Boston has improved their league-leading road record to 22-6. As it stands right now, Boston has the 8th best road record in NBA history up to this point.

The last Celtics team to have a road record this good was the 2007-08 Celtics at 31-10. The best road record in NBA history came with the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors at 34-7.

When NBC Boston’s Abby Chin asked Jayson Tatum about his thoughts on the Celtics road record, Tatum said, “we give up too many easy ones at home so we have to make up for it. We need to get back on track at home because we let our fans down too many times this year and sometimes last year, so we owe it to them to play better at home and we’re going to figure it out.”

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10. End of a chapter to the rivalry

With Miami trading Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, it marks the end to a chapter of a crazy time in the Celtics vs. Heat rivalry.

The Celtics matched up against the Jimmy Butler-led Heat four different times in the playoffs with three of those times coming in the Eastern Conference Finals and the other coming with Butler injured in the first round of last year’s playoffs. The final tally ended in a draw with both teams winning twice against each other but it was Boston that was the only team to win a championship after winning the matchup.

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There was a different level of anxiety and vitriol when these two teams faced off in the playoffs over the years that has yet to be matched by any other team in the Eastern Conference. You knew you were in for some of the most annoying and grind it out basketball you have ever seen with most of the games coming down to the wire.

Whether it was Jimmy Butler missing the game-winning three in Game 7 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals that resulted in the Celtics first Finals appearance since 2008 or the Derrick White buzzer beater in Game 6 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals that forced a Game 7 after Boston was dow 0-3 in the series, the matchups with the Miami Heat in the playoffs created some of the greatest moments in recent Celtics history.

Without the Celtics losses in 2020 and 2023, who knows if Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum improve their games to the level they are now. If the Celtics didn’t lose in 2023, who knows if Brad Stevens would have traded Marcus Smart for Kristaps Porzingis and Robert Williams for Jrue Holiday. In a way we should thank Miami for showing the Celtics exactly what their problems as a team were so they would be able to fix them and win the championship in 2024.

So this is goodbye for now Miami, I’m sure you’ll find a way to get another super star player in the future and the rivalry will be renewed once again but it will never reach the heights of the Jimmy Butler era.

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