Sports

/

ArcaMax

Heat shove their way back into series vs. Celtics with emphatic 111-101 victory fueled by Herro, Adebayo

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on

Published in Basketball

BOSTON — The Miami Heat, at least this injury-depleted version of the Miami Heat, could not have asked for more, could not have scripted it better.

There were 3-pointers falling at a record pace, silky Bam Adebayo mid-range jumpers nestling through the net when relief points were needed, Tyler Herro sizzling as both set-up man and scorer, and a defense that reminded what Erik Spoelstra’s team can look like at its best.

And, through it all, still a fight to the finish.

Going against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum can have that effect.

So no humbling Game 2 rout in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference opening-round playoff series like the 20-point mauling the Celtics put on the Heat in Sunday’s series opener.

Instead, the Heat finding their way to a 111-101 victory Wednesday night at TD Garden, finding a way even amid the injury absences of Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier.

 

While the Celtics got 33 points from Brown and 28 from Tatum, the Heat’s attack was more balanced. There were 23 points and a season-high 14 assists from Herro, 21 points and 10 rebounds from Adebayo, as well as 21 points from Caleb Martin, 14 from Jaime Jaquez Jr. and 11 from Nikola Jovic.

The Heat closed 23 of 43 on 3-pointers, two conversions shy of the all-time NBA playoff record.

The series now shifts to Kaseya Center for Saturday’s Game 3 and Monday’s Game 4, before now returning next week to TD Garden for a Game 5.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s playoff game:

...continued

swipe to next page

©2024 South Florida Sun Sentinel. Visit at sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus