Miami Sears Boston With 23 Triples on Way to 111-101 Upset Win, Ties Series
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 25 Apr 2024
Coach Erik Spoelstra found a way for Miami to beat the Boston Celtics even without Jimmy Butler: Beat them at their own game in three-point shooting and apply resolute defense to essentially limit the Celtics' offense to their two usual scorers.
The result was a comfortable 111-101 victory at the TD Garden Arena to square their series at one game apiece as it heads to Miami for the next two games.
Coach Spo fielded an array of long-range shooters led by Tyler Herro, who responded by hitting 23 three-point shots while employing resolute defense to limit their opponents' looks at the same target, allowing just Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown to hit their quota.
In the first two quarters, such a strategy was not yet obvious as Boston took the halftime lead. For Celtics fans, it appeared as just another day in the office for Tatum and company before lowering the boom to finish off the Heat on the way to a 2-0 series lead.
But by the third quarter, the Heat started to unravel the genius of the strategy as Herro, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez, Caleb Martin, and Haywood Highsmith alternately scored from the trifecta area while double coverage made it hard for Celtics to do the same. The Heat allowed Tatum and Brown to score but in a tightly contested manner or else ceded them the lane for drive-in layups. Bam Adebayo completely shut down Kristaps Porzingis from the long range.
Prompting the Celtics to think twice about shutting the Heat's long shooters was the consistent forays of center Bam Adebayo from the medium range and the inside, who made 80% of his attempts.
The pattern continued in the last quarter, killing any chances of the Celtics to wage any meaningful rally as the Heat continued to hit at a higher clip from the three-point range.
Overall, the Heat's 23 of 43 shooting from the three-point area or 53.3% was higher than their field goal shooting of 37 of 75 or 49.3%, both higher than Boston's.
Herro topped for Miami with 24 points. Martin and Adebayo had 21 points each. Jovic finished with 14 points, and Jaquez scattered 11 points. Highsmith chipped in 9 points.
Brown led Boston with 33 points, followed by Tatum with 28 points. Derrick White was the only other Celtic with significant contribution of 13 points.
In the other scheduled game, the Oklahoma City Thunder demolished the New Orleans Pelicans, 124-92, to carry a 2-0 lead for the continuation of the first round in New Orleans.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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