It looked like the Boston Celtics got a big break, as it turned out that neither Dwyane Wade nor big man duo Hassan Whiteside and Chris ”Birdman” Andersen were available for the game. And with Chris Bosh out for the season, the Miami Heat were forced to play small all the way, their tallest player being small forward Michael Beasley at 6'10". But most of their players are used to playing small ball with aggressive perimeter defense, so it wasn't that big a disadvantage.
The first quarter was quite sloppy with five turnovers for Miami and seven for Boston. Avery Bradley was hot for the Celtics, but after he sat down, the team cooled off. The Heat were able to take the first quarter with a 27-20 lead.
Bad comeback game for Isaiah Thomas
Isaiah Thomas had his first appearance after getting injured in the previous game against Miami on March 9th, but he looked worse than rusty. Thomas hit just one of six shots in the first half and missed all three of his free throws. He committed three turnovers, and was one or two steps behind on defense. The Celtics were minus-15 during his 13 minutes on the floor in the first half. It looked like a huge blunder from Coach Brad Stevens to have him play that much after not having been able to even run up and down the floor until yesterday. He clearly isn't close to full health, and might not be this season.
Miami Heat kept hitting open shots from the distance, partly because of crisp ball movement and partly because the Celtics failed their rotations and over helped in the paint, which was unnecessary. To make matters worse for Boston, they had a couple of turnovers late in the second quarter that led to easy Miami baskets. The first half ended with a 13-4 run for the Heat, who led by 57-40 at the break.
The third quarter was much of the same. Boston wasn't able to get any momentum going, and it seemed like they had trouble finding energy. It didn't help them that Isaiah Thomas got even more playing time, ending at 20 minutes, four points, three turnovers, no assists and a game worst plus-minus at minus-18. At the end of the third quarter, Miami had their largest lead of the game at 82-62.
Fourth quarter Celtics run was too little, too late
In the fourth quarter, Coach Brad Stevens finally hit a lineup that worked, with Marcus Smart, Phil Pressey, Gigi Datome, Jonas Jerebko, and Kelly Olynyk. These five players started chucking away at the Miami lead, with Jae Crowder stepping in for Olynyk in the middle of the quarter. They were able to make it an eight point game at 88-80 with little less than five minutes left in the game, but then the Celtics hit a scoring drought of their own, and time ran away from them.
Boston had several chances to make it a one possession game, but in the end even with both effort and execution at the right level, it wasn't enough, and Miami took an unexpected win – considering their injurie woes – 93-86.
Many fouls were called in this game
It was not a very hard played game, but the referees called 28 fouls on Miami and 25 on Boston plus a handful of technical fouls - three for Miami and two for Boston. It seemed like the referees, just like the players, had troubles finding a rhythm, and the foul calls didn't help in that regard.
Goran Dragic was the key player for Miami in this game, running fast breaks, executing the pick-and-roll and distributing the ball. He ended up with a game-high 22 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Four other Miami players had double-digits in points, among them Udonis Haslem who recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds plus three steals. Henry Walker was quietly effective with 4 of 8 from three-point range for 12 points.
For the Celtics, backup point guard Phil Pressey filled up the stat sheet pretty well in his 19 minutes on the court, finishing with 11 points, five rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block. Jae Crowder scored a team-high 16 points. Marcus Smart hit only 1 of 8 shots, but also had four steals and forced a couple more turnovers by drawing offensive fouls.
Four teams are equal in the loss column
After this game, the Eastern Conference has four teams with 40 losses fighting for the eighth seed, with the Celtics right now in that spot. It is obviously not a secure spot, though. Miami Heat can feel a bit safer at the seventh spot, two games ahead of Boston.
The Boston Celtics move on to another must-win game Friday night in the Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, while Miami Heat face the Eastern Conference leaders, the Atlanta Hawks, also in an away game on Friday.