Celtics douse the Heat, 108-89

Boston hosted the Miami Heat at TD Garden on Monday night, trying to avoid back-to-back losses. The Cleveland Cavaliers outlasted a banged-up Boston Celtics last night, but Boston beat the Heat 108-89 in a wire-to-wire blowout.

The C’s saw a return to action for starters Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Sam Hauser remained out of this game as Boston starts a stretch of four home games in six days. Jordan Walsh returned to the starting lineup alongside Luke Kornet, Brown, White, and Jayson Tatum.

For the Heat, Jimmy Butler was unavailable for the game as head coach Erik Spoelstra looked to Duncan Robinson alongside Tyler Herro in the starting backcourt.

Miami quickly jumped out to a 7-0 run to start the game before Luke Kornet’s driving dunk was followed up by a nifty hook shot to get the home team on the scoreboard early.

After a night off yesterday, Jaylen Brown was looking to be physical down low to start the game with a pair of back-down strong moves on the interior. Jayson Tatum then fed Brown in the low block with a sideline out-of-bounds pass that led to two made free throws and an early 10-9 lead at the midway point of the quarter. Kornet would then score once more in the paint, and Derrick White attacked the rim after a Miami Heat turnover as Boston went up by 5 points early.

Boston would look to 2-way player Drew Peterson once more off the bench as Jayson Tatum remained in the game to end the quarter alongside a bench unit of Pritchard, Queta, Tillman, and Peterson. Pritchard hit on a deep three over former Celtic Terry Rozier for his first points of the game; Pritchard then took on rookie Pelle Larsen to score on the inside. The Heat managed to keep it close, though, as Boston would lead by three points, 28-25, after the first quarter.

Payton Pritchard continued to score for Boston on the interior, getting downhill with a crossover drive on Alec Burks to start the second quarter. Jaylen Brown started to be more aggressive in the second quarter as he hit on a triple and drew shooting fouls, going 5 from 6 from the free-throw line.

Pritchard continued his dynamic game, breaking free for a pair of corner three-pointers from each wing as he led all scorers with 16 points midway through the quarter. The pace was intense to finish the first half as Boston finished the half up 60-45 over the visiting Heat. Boston shot 10/26 from three in the first half with Miami trailing well behind with just 16% from three on 3 for 18.

The Heat started the third quarter hitting their first 4 shots of the quarter, as Boston uncharacteristically turned the ball over four times, forcing Joe Mazzulla to call an early timeout and regroup his squad. Boston’s first score came at the 9 minute 45 second mark of the third quarter as Jaylen Brown ripped the nylon on a deep three-pointer.

Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Luke Kornet’s fifth and sixth blocked shots of the game got the crowd energized in the second half as Jayson Tatum strolled into a wide-open three-pointer for his thirteenth point as the team stretched the lead back out to 16 points.

Boston would continue to put points on the scoreboard for the rest of the third with a Derrick White three, a Queta tip-in and Jaylen Brown’s 26th point, his third three-pointer off a Payton Pritchard assist. Rookie Baylor Scheierman saw a few minutes for Boston in this game and his time was highlighted by a no-look left-handed skip assist to Jaylen Brown for a corner three-pointer and a 22-point lead after three quarters.

Boston continued to pile on the points in the fourth quarter as Miami headed for it’s tenth loss of the season. The Celtics lead swelled to 26 points at one point in the fourth behind Jaylen Brown’s team high 29 points, Pritchard had 25 points and Derrick White chipped in 19 points as the Celtics eventually prevailed for their 17th win on the season and move to .800 and retain second place in the Eastern Conference.

Boston next face Detroit on Wednesday 4th of December as they await the announcement of their next NBA Cup opponents.