Celtics defense shuts down Heat, Boston win 103-91

After a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, the Celtics took a trip to South Beach to face off against the Miami Heat. Boston took care of business, defeating Miami 103-91 for the sixth straight time going back to Game 3 of the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

Jrue Holiday had his best game of the year with 25 points on 10-15 shooting from the field and 5-8 shooting from three. Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 28 points, but Holiday kept Boston in the game through the first three quarters when the rest of the team was struggling. Then in the fourth quarter, it was Derrick White who closed the game out once again with his clutch shooting.

The Celtics defense was great tonight as they forced the Heat into 17 turnovers and completely shut them down in the fourth quarter as they held Miami to 25% from the field and 22% from three.

The Celtics started the game hot from beyond the arc, hitting their first four three pointers in a row as they opened up a 14-4 run from the jump. A great sign for Boston was Jrue Holiday who scored 10 of the Celtics first 16 points in the first five minutes of the first quarter. Payton Pritchard scored 5 straight points off the bench when he entered the game including a nasty step through move on Davion Mitchell.

Miami’s offense continued to struggle against Boston’s defense without Jimmy Butler on the team as they didn’t hit their first three pointer until there was three minutes left in the quarter.

The Heat were able to make a short run at the end of the quarter, but the Celtics led 30-23 at the end of the first. Jrue Holiday led the Celtics with 10 points in the quarter and Jayson Tatum was right there alongside him with 7 points. Boston’s defense held Miami in check from beyond the arc as the Heat only shot 25% from three.

The Celtics offense began the second quarter cold as Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins started to get the Heat back into the game. Luke Kornet shot his first three-point attempt of the season but missed and got into foul trouble with 3 fouls midway through the quarter.

Miami’s offense continued to roll with the Celtics starters off of the floor. A 16-5 run by the Heat gave them their first lead of the game with five minutes left of the first half. The Celtics offense was sputtering until Jrue Holiday came back on the floor and hit back-to-back threes for the Celtics and pulled out the Dr. Evil celebration to force a Heat timeout.

Both teams traded baskets and the lead back in forth to end the quarter as the game was tied 50-50 going into halftime. Jrue Holiday’s excellent game continued as he matched his most points in a half this season with 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field and 4-6 from three. Andrew Wiggins was the leading scorer for the Heat with 14 points, giving Celtics fans everyone PTSD from the 2022 Finals.

Boston’s cold shooting was the main catalyst behind Miami getting back in the game as the Celtics shot only 25% from the field and 27% from three in second quarter. The Celtics ball movement was an issue in the first half as well as Boston only had 9 assists as a team. Tatum also had a rough half shooting the ball as he finished with 12 points on 3-11 shooting.

Jrue Holiday picked up right where he left off to begin the third quarter as he hit another three but Miami answered with an 8-1 run to force an early timeout for Boston. Holiday hit a fadeaway jumpshot out of the timeout but Jaime Jacquez Jr. immediately answered with a three for the Heat.

Jayson Tatum got off the schneid with his first basket of the second half with seven minutes to go in the third quarter and it started a mini rally for the Celtics to cut the deficit to 1 highlighted by Holiday tying his season of 23 points with a quarter and a half remaining. After a Heat timeout, Holiday tied the game with a layup and surpassed his season high in points with four minutes to go.

The Celtics retook the lead with two and a half minutes to go on a Payton Pritchard three and a last second midrange jumper from Jayson Tatum gave Boston a 78-77 lead going into the fourth quarter. Boston’s shooting bounced back in the third quarter as the shot 61% from the field and 42% from three.

Derrick White was main source of offense for the Celtics to start the fourth quarter. He hit a three, found Luke Kornet cutting to the basket for a layup, and hit another deeper three from the logo to give Boston an 8-2 start to the quarter and got Ean Horford hyped.

It took the Heat almost six minutes to score another basket, but the Celtics weren’t able to take advantage of it as their shooting started to go cold again. The game’s pace grinded to a halt as the Celtics went almost five minutes with a basket until Al Horford hit a hook shot and Davion Mitchell responded with a three. Derrick White responded with his third three pointer of the fourth quarter to push the Celtics lead to 7 points with under four minutes to go in the game.

The Celtics defense continued to clamp the Heat on defense as they shot 5-20 shooting in the fourth quarter and Jayson Tatum hit the dagger with a corner three to give Boston the victory in Miami once again.

The Celtics next game is on Saturday, March 15th against the Brooklyn Nets.