#1 Jrue Holiday’s hot start
Have a day, Jrue Holiday.
The veteran guard has been banged up for a while here, but Holiday seems to be on the rise since returning against the Lakers last week. Friday’s game against Miami was one of Holiday’s best of the season as he racked up 25 points in the win — a season high.
Holiday set the tone early for the Celtics as he drilled two early threes, and was also aggressive getting to the bucket as he tallied up 10 points in the first frame. He finished the first half with 16 points, and the main reason why Boston found themselves tied with the Heat going into the break.
“He’ll do whatever it takes to win,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Tonight, the ball found him early … he was aggressive, and he was able to build through that.”
It was clear Holiday was feeling himself as he pulled out a new “Dr. Evil” celebration after nailing another triple in the second quarter.
Holiday finished his night shooting 10/15, adding in a steal and two blocks on the other end.
The two-time NBA champion finding his groove again offensively is a great sign for Boston — even if he doesn’t show it every night. Knowing that the Celtics have a guy like Holiday who could make such a huge impact on both ends of the court is what will make this team so hard to beat in the postseason.
#2 Second quarter blues
After building a 14-point lead early on in South Beach, Boston started to look a little sluggish, and its second quarter is one it’ll want to forget pretty quickly.
The Celtics’ offense stalled out, only putting up 20 points in the second frame. Meanwhile, Miami’s offense got going thanks to Andrew Wiggins.
A major factor in the lack of scoring was once again the three ball. Boston shot 4/15 from three, after hitting 6/13 in the first quarter. It may seem like a small margin, but just two less made threes changed the outlook of the game and let the Heat back into it.
#3 Still struggling in non-Tatum minutes
Another large part of that second quarter struggle was the non-Jayson Tatum minutes. After Tatum went the distance in the first, he sat for the first half of the second — and you could feel it.
Without Tatum and Jaylen Brown to create some offense — and Derrick White’s slow start — Boston’s offense felt stuck in the mud.
White and Payton Pritchard were a -7 and -6 respectively, and shot a combined 2/11 from the field. Especially with your top guys not on the court, the Celtics need those guys to lead the offense. Fortunately, they made up for it later on.
#4 Wiggins’ solid night
Wiggins was solid throughout Friday’s game, and besides Tyler Herro, one of the only guys on the Heat who could produce offensively.
While he was 9/21 from the field, Wiggins nailed 3/8 triples, and was able to rip four steals. Wiggins also did a solid job defending Tatum in stretches Friday — as he has a reputation of doing.
He was especially effective in that second quarter, scoring 10 of his 23 and shooting 4-5 from the field.
#5 Ebbs and flow of a third quarter for Tatum
It was a tale of two halves in Tatum’s third quarter.
In the first five minutes of the quarter, Tatum was loose with the ball turning it over three times and missing his lone shot. Whether it was a bad entry pass to Horford down low or getting the ball poked loose by Bad Adebayo, Tatum didn’t look right.
But after that third turnover he seemed to snap back to his normal self as he stepped into a three from 28 feet. Tatum finished the quarter with 10 points on 4-5 shooting and forcing a turnover on the other end.
Tatum silenced the crowd with a pull up triple to cut Boston’s deficit to one — his biggest play after a pair of momentum plays from Miami as Wiggins buried a triple and Hero found Kel’el Ware for an alley oop to insert some energy into the building.
On what seemed like a quiet night for Tatum was just the status quo as he finished with 28 points on 5-12 shooting from beyond-the-arc.
#6 White gets hot on South Beach
White was struggling offensively Friday, shooting 3/11 from the field and was 0/6 from deep. A rare sight for the guard. He was still making his presence felt on the other end with solid defense down low against Wiggins.
But as the fourth quarter came around, so did offense and White ignited Boston’s offense. After struggling in the non-Tatum minutes in the second, White was a major factor in that not happening in the fourth.
White pushed the Celtics into a 10-0 run by nailing two deep triples and dishing out an excellent feed to a cutting Kornet to put Boston up seven.
It’s no surprise that the best clutch three-point shooter in the league turned it up in the closing minutes, and it was even more critical with no Tatum in the opening minutes
White ultimately finished with 12 points in the quarter, shooting 4-7 and 3-5 from three.
#7 Closing time
Through the first three quarters it almost felt like Boston was playing at half speed, but just like any good team does, it turned it up late.
The Celtics’ defensive intensity raised another level in the fourth as Miami was only able to muster up 14 points. The Heat shot just 5-20 from the field in the final frame.
#8 Six straight over Miami
Boston vs. Miami just isn’t a rivalry anymore — it probably hasn’t been for nearly two years.
With Friday’s win the Celtics have won six in a row and 13 out of 15 over Miami. In those six-straight wins, Boston has held Miami to 91 points or less in every matchup, winning every game by over double digits.
It’s clear that Heat Culture just doesn’t mean the same thing it used to and since Jimmy Butler decided he didn’t want to be there anymore, they haven’t been the same.
Adebayo and Wiggins, while talented, aren’t able to be the No. 1 option on a team, and until they find a new one, this matchup won’t have the same juice.
Erik Spoelstra is an excellent NBA head coach, but even he can’t do much with the cards in his hand.
So until further notice — this rivalry is dead.
#9 Postseason clinched
With the win over Miami and the Clippers win over Atlanta, the Celtics have officially clinched a spot in the playoffs. Not that it was much of a doubt at this point.
This year will mark the 11th-consecutive season that Boston has reached the postseason, which is the longest active streak in the league.
With the Celtics being pretty solidified in that No. 2 seed, it’ll be interesting to see how the staff manages the roster and playing time in the final 15 games. Expect to see a lineup similar to tonight with different guys taking turns to rest as Boston comes down the home stretch.
#10 Back up to Brooklyn
Celtics will now get back on the plane and head up the East Coast to play in Brooklyn Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The Nets are spiraling at the moment, losing nine out of their last 10 games.
As normal, I would expect Horford to be out on the second half of the back-to-back, and possibly Tatum and Holiday. Kristaps Porznigis traveling with the team is another positive sign of his return to play, but he’ll more than likely go through another shootaround workout to determine how close he is to returning.
