The Boston Celtics took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Heat on Monday night in Miami, though the victory did not come without a cost. The Celtics led by double-digits for most of the night, but Kristaps Porzingis departed in the second quarter with what the team deemed “right calf soreness” and Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle in the fourth, with the 102-88 win creating introducing some significant question marks for the team moving forward. The Celtics took a commanding 3-1 lead over Miami as they look to move on to the next round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Leading the way for the Celtics tonight was an absolutely massive outing from Derrick White. The two-way guard led all scorers with a whopping 38 points and eight made three-pointers on a night where Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to shoot just 12-of-32 from the field. For Miami, Erik Spoelstra’s offense continued to look out-of-sorts, with Bam Adebayo (25 points) leading a unit that shot just 40% from the field and 27% from three-point range.
Between chippy defensive effort and active whistles on the parts of the referees, tonight’s game got off to a relatively slow start. Neither found much momentum in the early minutes, with the Celtics taking a few trips to the free throw line but also coughing up possessions due to illegal screens and loose ball fouls. After the game’s first timeout, though, White took control, scoring eight points in the span of 58 seconds to force Miami coach Erik Spoelstra to take a timeout. His 16 first quarter points were a playoff career high, and sparked the Celtics to an assertive 34-24 first quarter edge.
White’s explosion came at an opportune moment of the Boston offense. Their two stars opened the game relatively quietly. Tatum and Brown combined for just 10 points in the first half, and Tatum in particular seemed to struggle to find a groove as the game wore on. He connected on one smooth three-pointer, but otherwise shot just 1-of-4 from the field, adding an offensive foul and making some uncharacteristic defensive mistakes. His poor play compounded to the point where Mazzulla opted to bring him back to the bench to refocus.
The Celtics had an opportunity to take command in the game before halftime, as the second quarter has been their most successful thus far against Miami. After averaging nearly 37 points in the second quarter in the series, though, the Celtics’ offense was substantially cooler this time around. The two teams scored just seven points a piece across the first six minutes of the quarter, before White took over again. He embarked on a personal 6-0 run with consecutive three-pointers, pushing the Celtics ahead by 16 points on a ridiculous pull-up three-pointer. Behind White’s 22 first-half points, Boston entered the halftime break with a 17-point lead, 53-36.
In a very concerning sight, Kristaps Porzingis appeared to suffer a leg injury late in the half. He appeared to feel something in his right leg with just over two minutes remaining in the second quarter and immediately signaled to come out of the game. The Celtics took a foul to create a stoppage and Porzingis limped his way off the court. The official report called it “right calf tightness” and marked Porzingis as doubtful to return to the contest.
As the second half began, White continued to spearhead the surging Celtics. Their lead swelled over the 20-point threshold early in the third quarter behind consecutive dunks from the 29-year-old guard. White just continued to score and score and score, defying any defensive attention the Heat could throw at him. He added 11 more points and another three-pointer to his stat total for the night, and the Celtics finished the third quarter with a 81-59 lead, just 12 minutes away from a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Tasked with carrying this game to the finish line, the Celtics needed to avoid one of their customary fourth quarter slumps. Too often, they seem to let off the gas pedal too early, allowing their opponent to worm their way back into the game and create high stress crunch time minutes where they ought not to exist. Those worries reared their head once again in the early minutes, with the Heat embarking on a modest 11-5 run to start the quarter and trim the Boston lead to 14 points. Tatum mustered an emphatic response — he followed up a Jrue Holiday three-pointer by slamming home a driving dunk, and in the blink of an eye, the Celtics were back up 20 with seven minutes to play.
The Heat weren’t ready to shrink away just yet. After a timeout from Spoelstra, they rattled off a quick 7-0 run to cut the lead down to 13 points with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. A layup from Adebayo forced Mazzulla to call a timeout, and the crowd in Miami’s Kaseya Center started to get rowdy.
As play resumed, another consequential sequence resulted in a Boston injury. After a foul on the floor, Tatum put up a practice shot during the stoppage, and Adebayo stepped under his feet on the contest, causing Tatum to roll his ankle on the landing. A lengthy review later — punctuated by some truly embarrassing color commentary from former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy — and Adebayo was assessed with a Flagrant-1, with a technical foul issued to Al Horford as well. Herro missed the technical free throw, while Tatum remained in the game and made both of his freebies for the flagrant. A two-pointer from White on the ensuing possession put the Celtics ahead by 17 with just over four minutes remaining in regulation. The sequence proved to be the defining one of the evening, as the Heat never managed to challenge again.
Next up, the Celtics return to Boston looking to shut the lights out on the Heat. They’ll host Miami at TD Garden for Game 5 this Wednesday at 7:30 PM on TNT.
