Recap: Heat fall to Celtics 110-97
The Heat never led and were dominated in every area by the Celtics in an atrocious loss
First Half
The Heat got out to an absolutely atrocious start, going down by more than 10 early as the Celtics ran away with things early on a 14-0 run. The Celtics just seemed unable to miss threes and it left the Heat reeling. The Heat tried to answer back with some looks of their own, but it wasn’t enough to start with Derrick White and Jayson Tatum tormenting the Heat on the defensive end. Caleb Martin tried to get the Heat going in an effort to chip away at the lead - but Tatum responded back in a big way. The Heat looked out of it, displaying some of their most lethargic basketball of the postseason. Every time the Heat seemed to do something right, the Celtics would hit a three leaving the Heat spinning its wheels. The Celtics hit another three to end the quarter leaving the Heat down by 15, and without momentum.Â
Boston’s shooting did not slow down as they hit another three to start the second quarter, Haywood Highsmith joined the rotation for added defense but Boston was still dominant from beyond the arc shredding Miami’s zone. Lowry and Duncan hit some good looks to start chipping away, but it seemed like the Celtics were eternally up 15 points. Duncan Robinson looked great sparking a 9-2 run to get within 11, but Miami’s lack of rebounding halted the run. To make things even worse Caleb injured his knee and looked a bit hobbled. It didn’t help that Bam couldn’t hit a bucket.
The Heat really lacked effort, there was no hustle in comparison to the Celtics and Miami paid for it in the form of a 12-3 run. The Heat showed signs of life in the final minute but would head to the locker room down nearly 20 points and ready for a Udonis Haslem tongue lashing.Â
Second Half:
The Heat’s defense was better to start, but turnovers remained an issue. Lowry looked like a shell of himself, turning the ball over and playing matador on defense. Jimmy attempted to run the offense solo, but thankfully he’d get a little bit of help from Haywood Highsmith. Still the Celtics dominance from beyond the arc continued, and unfortunately Miami’s tendency to turn over the ball also continued. The Heat had no answers and Boston extended their lead to 23. Bam found a little bit of a rhythm in the latter half of the third scoring a quick three buckets, but on the other end the Heat could not get stops.Â
Things didn’t get better, as Miami continued to make mistakes and get buried alive. They looked outclassed out there as they were constantly turned away on offense. There were some positives from Haywood Highsmith, who seemed like the only Heat player giving effort tonight aside from Caleb, but the game seemed finished heading into the fourth quarter as Jimmy and Bam didn’t return. The Celtics were a much better team tonight. Miami will get another chance to close out the series on Saturday night, and the good news? It’ll be hard to play worse than this.
Heat should go with best defense. Start Gabe (if healthy), Caleb, Highsmith, Butler and Bam. Each one of them should play heavy minutes (35ish). Play Lowry, Strus, Robinson, Love and Zeller limited minutes, depending on how they are doing. This is the all-in game. If it goes to Boston for Game 7, the Celtics will have all the momentum and it will be damn near impossible to win.
GO HEAT!!!
Heat missed Gabe this game, Lowry was terrible. He's starting to look like its maybe time for him to hang it up.
Jimmy was also terrible this game, he was passive not looking to take shots and was hesitant in taking advantage of transition opportunities.
He allowed the Celtics to consistently set their defense.
The Celtics also took advantage of his poor spacing to make life miserable for Bam in the paint.
Its unlike Jimmy not to show up in such a critical game.
It could be a symptom of fatigue, that's why at the start of this series I thought it would be a good idea for Spo to give a few mins to Highsmith each game, not only to keep Jimmy fresh but also because he's a solid defender.
There's also the fact that he's taking and making 3s at a high percentage.
Bam also played poorly in this game, he was a turnover machine.
He was consistently doubled and triple teamed in the paint but aided the Celtic's defense by holding on to the ball too long and trying to make moves with multiple hands swiping at the ball.
Throwing the ball to Bam in the paint with Jimmy not taking and making 3s is probably not a good idea.
Bam seems to make poor decisions under duress.
The Celtics are playing Love off the floor. They are targeting him just about every time down the floor.
It's one of the main reasons why the Heat were down big after the first quarter.
And once Love took the bench and Zeller came in Zeller became the Celtic's main target.
I think Spo has a decision to make, does he start Love and risk falling behind again in game 6 or does he start Caleb or Highsmith.
Personally I think he should start Highsmith.
His defense is light years better than Love's and he's currently shooting 54.5% from 3.
They should switch as much as possible to try to contain the Celtic's 3 point shooting especially Derek White he's killing the Heat from 3, shooting 58% on over 6 threes per game.
Very few mins for Zeller and Love because the Celtics especially Tatum is making a concerted effort to attack Love, Zeller and Duncan every time down the floor.
Align Bam's mins with Tatum's as much as possible so that he doesn't have easy double teams to take advantage of in the pick n' roll.
Bam, Jimmy and Caleb are going to have to play heavy mins in game 6.
Here's hoping Gabe is good to go for this game because the Celtics have had no answers for him on offense.
He's averaging almost 18 points per game on 78% TS in this series.
Him, Caleb and Duncan have been doing a number on the Celtic's defense. They are having trouble containing those 3 players.
Can't afford another passive game from Jimmy and another turnover prone game from Bam or we will be staring at a game 7 in Boston.
Attack the glass, protect the ball and have bodies and the ball in constant motion.
The Celtic's confidence is soaring, they're taking advantage of Heat double teams by moving the ball and hitting their 3s and they're not an easy team to closeout.
This is game 7 for the Heat, they're going to have to bring their A game if they want move on to the finals.
Lets hope they bring it.
Go Heat!