The Heat Stunned The Celtics In Game 2 By Doing That Thing Where They Get Scorching Hot From Three

The Miami Heat have done it again, folks. After looking overwhelmed in the first game of their first-round series against the Boston Celtics — due in part to the absence of Jimmy Butler due to an injury — Miami was able to follow a familiar formula to steal homecourt advantage away from the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference. By the time the final buzzer went off at TD Garden, Miami picked up a 111-101 win to tie the series up at one win each.

Miami leaned heavily on the great equalizer early on in the game: the three-point line. After getting seriously outgunned from deep in Game 1, the Heat shot 8-for-15 in the first quarter from deep and ended the first half with an absolutely ridiculous 13 makes on 24 attempts, good for a 54.2 percent clip from deep.

The problem, however, was that they were still outgunned despite this. While Miami needs to hit threes to beat Boston, their defense also has to be spot on, and that just was not the case in the first half. Powered by 21 points from Jaylen Brown, 18 points from Jayson Tatum, and a team-wide 8-for-20 clip from deep, Boston took a 61-58 lead into the locker room.

But the Heat’s hot shooting did not relent, and not long after a triple by Tyler Herro gave them the lead for the first time in the second half, Miami opened up a double-digit lead thanks to a 15-3 run. Even though Boston was able to chip away to close the frame, the Heat’s arsenal of shooters kept them at arm’s length, and gave them an 85-79 lead after three.

Early on in the fourth quarter, any time the Celtics started to make a little bit of headway, something from the Heat — a Bam Adebayo jumper, a three from someone, etc. — cut them off at the pass.

By the time Herro stepped up to the free throw line to ice the win and stretch the team’s lead back to double-digits, the fans at TD Garden started to head for the exits.

All five of Miami’s starters hit double-digits, with Tyler Herro leading the way with 24 points, 14 assists, and five rebounds. Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin both hit the 21-point mark, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 14 and Nikola Jovic stuffed the box score with 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals, and a block. As a team, the Heat shot 23-for-43 (53.5 percent) from behind the three-point line. For Boston, Brown and Tatum combined to score 61 points, but as a team, the Celtics were 37-for-80 (46.3 percent) from the field and 12-for-32 (37.5 percent) from three.

Now, the two teams are heading back to Miami, where the Heat will look to defend their homecourt and make it so when they return to Boston, they only need one win to earn a spot in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Game 3 between the Heat and the Celtics will take place on Saturday afternoon at 6 p.m. EST on TNT.