After falling to the Boston Celtics 114-94 in game 1 to open the NBA playoffs Sunday afternoon, the Miami Heat are looking to respond. Coach Erik Spoelstra was able to get to the drawing board with three days off between the first game and tonight’s game 2 to work on making some adjustments.
Sunday featured Boston coming out to an assertive double-digit lead early on in the first quarter. They were firing from 3-point range, earned the lead and never looked back. The Heat were able to cut the deficit to three points early in the second quarter, but never got as close afterwards.
Kevin Love’s insertion into the game is what got Miami more controlled offensively, as he made an immediate impact off the bench. His floor spreading ability at an efficient rate is a big asset for the Heat right now more than ever, along with his championship experience and leadership. Being undermanned without the franchise’s MVP in Jimmy Butler has put a difficult task on the team to take on the league’s top overall seed immediately in the first round.
Bam Adebayo led all scorers with 24 points and 6 rebounds on 10/18 shooting. Jaime Jaquez Jr also recorded another effective outing, who has gotten the start at small forward in place of the injured Butler.
Delon Wright also was impactful with 17 points and 5/5 from deep in 26 bench minutes. His defensive talent on the perimeter has always been an intriguing part of his game as a role player. However, if he is able to knock down shots like he did in game 1, he becomes that much more important right now.
It will be interesting to see if any roles could be changed heading into tonight. This is in regards to both Wright and Love’s playing time. Caleb Martin and Haywood Highsmith have looked rough on the offensive side, although their defense is still elite and needed against the Celtics star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Tyler Herro will aim to have a bounce back performance after only dropping 11 points on 4/13 shooting. This outing came just one game after arguably his greatest all-around performance of his career in the Heat/Chicago Bulls play-in game last week.
Tonight’s game will tip-off at 7:00 PM EST on TNT, with the hopes of this shorthanded Miami group to return home sporting a 1-1 series tie.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Jimmy Butler (MCL) — OUT
- Terry Rozier (neck) — OUT
- Josh Richardson (surgery) — OUT
Boston Celtics:
- Luke Kornet (calf) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Caleb Martin, G
- Jaime Jaquez Jr, F
- Nikola Jovic, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Boston Celtics:
- Jrue Holiday, G
- Derrick White, G
- Jaylen Brown, F
- Jayson Tatum, F
- Kristaps Porzingis, C
Betting Lines:
- Check the current odds out at FanDuel!
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:00 PM EST
- TV: TNT & Bally Sports Sun (Eric Reid, John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!
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Just keep fighting. Everyone has written us off already even us here. I think the ones rooting for us are NY, Cavs, Milw, Indy…lol
is anybody looking forward to this playoff game,its here ill watch and post but after seeing other teams play we are the worse team left orlando might be second worse.suks to say that but if anybody doesnt think that is the case pls raise your hand
I think Spo should try to defend the Celtics as straight up as possible and live with the results.
The Celtics are a tough cover but it’s better than the alternative of constantly sending 2 to the ball.
Put Bam on Tatum, Jovic on KP and Caleb on Brown.
Only send help when KP, Tatum and Brown has a large size advantage in the post.
Try to keep Duncan and Tyler from being on the floor together as much as possible because it weakens our defense.
On offense let Niko and Delon do more ball handling, move Tyler more off ball.
Have the ball handlers constantly push pace because letting the Celtics set their defense would not favor us.
Give more mins to KLove and Delon.
Shoot the 3 without hesitation make or miss. Certain guys were too hesitant to shoot the 3 in game 1 and it resulted in a worst shot or a to.
The Celtics believe that if they stop Tyler that they will stop the Heat, so give the green light to Niko and Jaime to be as aggressive as possible looking for their shots because they’re the only other players on this squad beside Bam and Tyler that can get their own shot. So you’re going to need maximum aggression from both of them.
It’s all house money at this point, we have nothing to lose.
So just give it your all and live with the results.
Spo does not adjust very well or hes just a stubborn sob.a 14-0 lead tells u something aint right fix it dummy.try different lineup.
Spo just stubborn ,he trusts his guys so much that he would leave them in shooting cold because he thinks they will turn it around. He was better last year with adjustments.
Thing that he does quitea bit which drives me spo crazy is a guy or lineup will be on fire and then he will do his auto spobot rotation and remove him or them instead of trying to stretch lead a little more,
Out down the Bartles & James. Clearly you have already started early. Spo coached less talented teams to two Finals and an ECF with a roster most coaches would have maxed out in the second round.
Serioulsy, HHH. Can we not afford to program an ignore the wine cooler drinker button?
Heat got beat on the boards and with 3 point shooting. Start Love with Bam to help on both. Use Bryant as third big in rotation. He rebounds and can score inside. Where Miami will suffer is on defense. Use Herro, Martin, Wright and Highsmith to dog Brown, White and other guards full court, whenever possible. Run whenever possible. Substitute frequently to keep guys rested for full court defense. Disrupt the flow, rebound better and hit the threes. Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt. When life gives you lemons…make lemonade!
GO HEAT!!!
Great plan maybe you should be an assistant coach, so you can whisper that in spo’s ear. I think he’ll only use half your plan though.
This is a recipe for the disaster.
For now, I would replace Martin With Highsmith.
The recipe for disaster was written long before the playoffs my friend. Just trying to change things up. Otherwise, their starting 5 will kill ours…again.
Porzingis, Tatum, Brown, White, Holiday>>>>>Bam, Jovic, Jaquez, Martin and Herro
Having Love and Bam at the same time on court is wouldn’t work.
I prefer mad man strategy, starting Herro and Dunc, shooting nothing but threes,
and playing zone from the start.
That would be a bad idea starting dunc and herro, holiday and white would eat them alive offensively and defensively.
only for a minute or two.. to see those faces in Boston like “what is that
vagibugi a good fan but his knowledge of bball up for debate,think hes over in europe.a bigger lineup is needed for sure,
I totally disagree. His knowledge is solid. Just because someone disagrees with you or me doesn’t mean he’s wrong or less knowledgeable.
having love and bam on ct together bad idea but dunc n ty is good idea,youve lost little cred there to my man,u cant believe that is good advice rc
You didn’t see me say that and I’m certainly not concerned about losing cred with the person who has little of his own.
I wish we had the personnel to match up. Without the injuries, we would have a fighting chance. My hope is that someone like Caleb or Tyler goes off and then we have just enough to win a game. And then we find out that Jimmy’s injury was a grade one strain and he will be back for game five, and Terry will be back for game four.
I wish that would happen but Jimmy ain’t coming back this series. So we just gotta hope that we don’t get swept.
caleb and tyler just need to go off team.delon playing better than both so is jjj.hh kind of stinking it up but u always get d.caleb brings not much to the table he might have been an mvp cand if tatum was injured
glad to see u back didnt see u here or at litterbox .whatu smokin these days btw
I like it. The more we get out and run, the better. Annoy them into playing slow, and push the pace. In the half court, they pack a punch we honestly can’t do much about without opening ourselves to something else equally deflating
That’s how indy beat some good teams all while taking some 120+ points. The more their structured basketball falters, the better. KP is a decent rim protector, but I know for sure he isn’t gna keep up with a high pace back and forth shootout. Look for some Love full court assists