The Miami Heat’s momentum from winning game two against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Playoffs first round was short-lived as their rivals quickly regained the upper hand in the series by dominating game three in South Florida, 104-84, on Saturday night.
Boston led wire-to-wire in an impressive defensive showcase, limiting the Heat to below 42% shooting. Jayson Tatum had 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists, while Jaylen Brown compiled 22 points and 8 rebounds.
The Cs have now won 9 of their last 11 games as visitors at the Kaseya Center, including 6-1 in the playoffs.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 20 points on 8-18 shooting while Tyler Herro was limited to 15 points on 5-16 shooting. After dishing out 14 assists last game, Herro only had 2 dimes on Saturday.
Miami shot only 9-28 from three and allowed Boston to drop 42 points in a second quarter which determined the game early on.
“They took us out of stuff we would like to get to,” Erik Spoelstra said after the game.
“They were the more physical team. They bodied us, bullied us on screens, got through stuff, distorted screens, everything.”
Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck) remained unavailable for Miami, while Delon Wright missed the game due to personal reasons.
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any player playing good?
dunc ty spo doesnt know by now i give up
when will we get our next dwade
anthony edwards has been upgraded from ss to generational by yours and rcs fav ss gager hfl
after watching joel in playoffs and his injury history no thank u to him.besides either being injured or running out of energy at end of games he is the dirtiest player in nba.he has been declassified from a ss like commercial man by yours truly the official gager of ss players
only if pat would have drafted booker over bustice.and pats a ky guy.booker butler bam im meeting my hhh buddies on bisc blvd in july.cant wait to shake rcs hand
What about Maxey over Precious. Oh well. Who knew? That was yesterday. Tomorrow is what counts.
Yup. Beasley over Westbrook, Love, Brook Lopez, Dragic, and about 6 others. Sht happens.
drafting wade made rileys gm career
Totally false. Riley made his Heat career by remaining competitive while having very few high draft picks. He’s also made a few key trades. You discount the team for winning with the big 3, and don’t give credit to the gm/president for getting them. Any gm can do well if they keep picking in the top 5 or 10. PS – most people didn’t think we had the assets to get Butler here. Riley pulled that one off too.
Riley had more GM success over the past five years than Sam Presti and Daryl Morey combined over their entire career. And this was his 3rd best five year stretch in 25 years as a Heat GM. He’s so much better than basically any other GM in the NBA that it’s really not even close
no wade no rings correct
yes. if the warriors don’t have curry they get no rings. if the bucks don’t have Giannis they get no rings. If the Nuggets don’t get Jokic they have no rings.
It turns out, you don’t win rings without great players. There are also long lists of teams that have landed MVP level players and never won rings. Wade, by contrast, was never even top-3 in MVP voting.
So yes, you could theoretically say that Riley doesn’t win rings without Wade. You could also say that Wade doesn’t win rings without Riley.
The one thing I do know is that Riley has so many championship rings that he needs to start getting them fitted for his toes, because he doesn’t have enough fingers for all of them.
if dwade wasnt here no way bron bosh shaq here correct.d wade our best gm .let me get rc rileyed up.lol
wade marquette jim marquette,id say more of a factor
dunc 90 mil.6 years.
Riley could have draft Jokic in the second round in 2014 and added him to the Heatles squad that already included Wade, LeBron, and Bosh. LeBron probably would have stayed if Riley had drafted a future 3-time MVP. Real missed opportunity there
bron would have stayed here if pat got him better players
yes, Bron is famous for his loyalty. Must have been Pats fault that he left.
Bron would’ve stayed if he was more patient, he stayed with the lakers longer, but got less rings. He could of been playing in the weak east with bam and butler. Lbj first year with the lakers didn’t even make the playoffs.
Superteam Suns crashed and burned. Imagine having Booker, KD, Beal in one team getting swept? In first rd?! Lots of people have that idea of superstars here in Miami right? Nothing against it, I would love that happening to my beloved team but its not that simple. Funny how others make success sound easy if or when Heat get a superstar or two. Did I say already its not that simple? Oh yeah I did 😜
GM (Jones) should be fired. Trading for Beale and his $200M+ no trade contract was a fatal mistake for the franchise. Now they are stuck with his $150M contract next three years with a crappy bench. Coach did the best with what he had.
On top of that kd’s legacy will take a hit. He got what he deserved choosing suns over us. He in the west and will never get another championship and will never make it to a wcf anymore.
KD is an idiot. He could have had a ton of rings with Warriors but had to prove he was the top dog, not Steph. He kept demanding trades and look where it got him. OKC, Golden State, Brooklyn, Phoenix. He’ll be 36 this year. I’m glad KD and Beale are someone else’s problem.
Lol KD indeed is an idiot.
I agree with everything you said, and at the end of his career he will be known as a player that can only win with an all time great team(warriors) after losing to them the year before. Nothing but an imbecile.
Question: if that Suns lineup would be the Heat, do you think they’d be successful?
Its the GM’s job to get so-called stars, sometimes disregarding $$$ and future coz most teams wants to compete now. But there’s more to it than just a collection of star players as we’ve seen with these Suns. Also Bulls. And in the past…Nets, Clipps, Lakers…
Juggling and navigating a team towards success requires much more that just stars who can give you 20, 30 pts a night. Even if they can play both ways.
Not with the team James Jones has assembled. Need supporting cast that mesh together well and who buy into their roles and team’s culture.
I’m so glad you wrote this. I’ve been waiting to see if this happened. It proves the point many of us have said and some people just don’t get: getting a superstar, or even 2, doesn’t guarantee you anything, particularly aging stars. As was pointed out earlier, many of the teams winning are young. That’s the direction our team needs to go.
Yeah it’s funny, everyone was so mad at Riley because he didn’t “trade for a superstar” last offseason. Now it looks like Dame and Beal are both getting crushed in the first round. Honest question: If you could do it next offseason, would you trade Jaquez, Jovic, Herro, Duncan, and multiple first round picks so you could pay Dame over fifty million dollars a year for the next three years? Because that was the deal. I think Riley has proven (once again) that he’s smarter than the rest of us.
Majority here wouldn’t want that list just to get Dame. And I believe Pat’s not gonna do that either. If we played Milw this rd we might be advancing outright haha. And bout Riley, his dilemma after the playoffs is Butler more than anything else. Trust the godfather.
kd past prime.beale is not an allstar.booker is a super star ,bron wade bosh all in prime. ss
Maybe the Wolves are the best team in the league.
Or maybe the suns was just too small with no depth. If the wolves can beat the nuggets, who has size, then I will call wolves the best team in the league.
young is in .good young that is.we got bam thats it.comeon pat
what a great kid ant is wow refreshing personality,nba in good hands with him.kd lebron steph bye bye rcs youngens have taken over
He has the potential to be better than wade, wish we had him.
i think minn can beat denver goberts bigger than cheapshot artist.thats a 50 50 series.mcdaniels played so well 6th man of year hardly played.kd why the f did u not stay with steph
hes jordanesque that slammer at the end of game and his style of play reminds me of mike
james jones take over for pat?
Yup. We need him to come in and sign Butler like he did Bradley Beale for 4 years and $200M+ with a no trade clause who gets old overnight and totally flops in the playoffs while his team is getting swept. I think you’ve hit on another big winner heat.
im a canes guy lol
james jones played at miami high uof miami heat.should be working in front office with d wade.
suns being dirty at end of this game
yep, the Heat had it coming. Let’s not forget that, win or lose, this team is severely undermanned. They are missing 3 out of 4 of their ballhandlers, and were relying on heavy minutes from a journeyman that got bought out by the worst team in the league, and even he missed game-3.
They need a miracle to win any game. But I’ve seen them pull miracles out of their butts before. We all know this Celtics team is a group of frontrunners that likes to jump out to big leads early and put it in cruise control for the rest of the game. If the Heat can come out strong in the first half, I trust them to give us an exciting game until the end.
Other than that, not much else to say. It’s been the same story all season. Just too many injuries to legitimately compete. Just go out and play your asses off and try to steal another one tomorrow.
memo to spobot pls dont have ty guard brown
man..Brunson had a field day attacking embiid off the screen. If that was Bam, brunson might be held to 30 pts lol
he attacked the whole team didnt see it just embid.dudes impossible to guard .little pit bull
common theme of playoff teams no 6 9 centers
common theme of nba playoffs younger teams are winning
Welcome to reality. We’ve been trying to get this across to you for a while now.
of course younger is better but our oldest player is our best player,what do u think clips do with leonard,knicks with randle.bucks with lillard.
Trade them for two younger studs.?
I hope and assume you don’t invest in the stock market. You sell certain stocks when they have the most value, not when they’re on their way down. The exact reason you explore the market for Butler now is because he still is a valuable asset. Again, the Bucks traded five total second-round picks, veteran guard George Hill, veteran big man Serge Ibaka and Jordan Nwora for Jae Crowder. Jae Crowder!! Imagine what the Heat could get for Butler.
NBA is a young man’s game. Suns fighting for their lives and “$200M contract with no trade clause” Beale sitting there with 7 points. That’s Butler if he gets a max extension. Time for Heat to get rid of Butler and re-tool…not rebuild. Just sayin.
beale was very good on bad wash teams.hes not that good of a player.or maybe when hes the third option.not sure wouldnt mind james traded him here.with a court of kd booker and ant ant is clearly the best player
Jones sacrificed the bench. Suns bench (two guys) scored 10 points. Dude is going to get fired, KD is going to demand to get traded and Suns will take another 10 years to re-build.
Vogel will get fired too after next year after getting booted in the first round again, due to Jones sacrificing that bench. Also booker might demand to get traded too because he ain’t sitting in around a rebuild either. I heard suns don’t have a 1st round pick until 2030 .
You can see from my handle I WAS a Suns fan for many years. Their mismanagement by former owner (Sarver) and GM (McDonough) prompted me to follow Dragic to Miami when they did him dirty. New bunch seems just as incompetent. I feel sorry for Phoenix fans, as I do for Portland fans, Washington, Atlanta and others. There’s a reason Miami fields a competitive team every year rather than going to a decade long rebuild. His name is Pat Riley. I don’t always agree with his decisions, but I do respect his track record.
Definitely knew you was suns fan, and glad you came to a winning organization because I respect and always look forward to your takes. I feel bad for those fans as well, and fortunately enough miami heat is a well run organization. Just came back from suns blog and I thought they would be more pissed about there situation. But a Decent amount of them are trying come up with silver linings and moral victories, which is pretty dumb in my opinion because they got swept having a big 3. Signing Beal was mistake, kd is only getting older, booker isn’t an alpha. They got no depth, they’re too small. Vogel is overrated, no first round pick in sight. Even a few them said they wished they never traded ayton. I’m glad we have Riley, sixers, suns, and more then half the league wish they had a gm as good as the godfather.
If Spo doesn’t play KLove then I would like to see those back-up C mins go to ORob.
He’s another one of our young up and coming players with a lot of potential.
And If we’re keeping it real, we likely aren’t winning this series.
I would love to see us pull another upset on the hated Boston Celtics but without 2 of our big guns ya gotta admit that that sh!T is unlikely.
So at this point this series should mostly be about fast tracking our young guns by giving them valuable play-off mins and seeing how they perform under the bright lights.
The game was won and lost in the 1st half no doubt.
The Cs came to play and play they did. As predicted they played with a hybrid offense and not the shoot three first offense they are known for. On defense, they pressured the Heat backcourt early and never stopped.
Understandably, Miami Heat not wanting to put pressure on themselves treated it like any other game but turned out sloppy with enough TOs to sink any team in the 1st half and a cavalier attitude to the boards. The look of BEWILDERMENT on Spo’s face in the 1st half summarized it all for me.
In the 2nd half the Heat tried to right the wrongs of the 1st half but the ship was already sunk.I watched only the first 4 minutes of the 4th qtr as I struggled to keep awake during and after the intermission.
Lesson: This is the playoff not the regular season. Every possession and every minute counts. Rapid in game adjustment matters possession by possession.
Hope lesson is learnt.
Go Heat, Go!
I kept looking at that box score. Still amazed how Heat won one. And they need to have a near perfect game like game 2 to beat Bos with that lineup. Obviously its hard to replicate game 2 but not impossible. Or Heat could catch Celts on a bad night and take advantage. Make it a game 7 😁😜
jovic be as good as maxie kleeber
Jovic is 20 years old. Give him a couple of years and let him grow into his man-strength body. He’s a work in progress. Nikola Jokic wasn’t shit when he started. Now look at him. If Niko can be half as good he’s a keeper.
I saw a lack of communication on defense from the Heat in the first half of that game.
In the 1st half I also saw the Heat abandoned the “let them beat us with tough shots” approach that worked so well in game 2 and went right back to doubling needlessly which led to wide open 3s for the Celtics.
The Celtics made a concerted effort to go at Tyler on offense and to help only off of Bam on defense.
I think Spo should run some pick & pops for Bam every now and again to keep the defense honest.
Having him just be a roller makes the offense too stagnant and predictable imo.
I also thought Spo should’ve turn to Patty earlier in the game with the team lacking so many ball handlers.
It’s probably time to shut down Duncan, he’s not himself and his presence is hurting the team.
At this point I would rather give his mins to Patty Mills.
Tos and points off tos were the difference in that game, no surprise considering our dearth of ball handlers.
Lets see what adjustments Spo makes for game 4.
DON’T GET YOUR PANTIES IN A BUNCH…JUST SPIT-BALLIN
Miami gets: Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr., Cam Whitmore, pick
Houston gets: Jimmy Butler
Miami gets: Bobby Portis, Khris Middleton
Milwaukee gets: Jimmy Butler
Miami gets: Ingram and Murphy (from N.O.) Collins and pick (from Utah)
New Orleans gets: Butler
Utah gets: Herro
opt 3 for me
Don’t know how Mia gets it done if at all but I want DJ Murray on the heat, can play on and off the ball plays defense and isn’t injury prone like Mitchell. Something also tells me he wants to be in Mia from the ig post to him being one of the players who voted they want to play for spo (my guess) again my opinion
I agree. Problem is they already have Trae and need a two-way SG playing next to him.
Murray would be the perfect backcourt mate for terry.
Yup. If there is a will there is a way. Pat gonna have to work his magic. Butler and Herro in 4-wqy trade for SG & C/PF works for me.
Yes I hope so 🙏, the godfather gotta make some major moves next season, the east isn’t as good as the west.
precious pitched a shutout on embid in 4th
brunson maxey no debate whos better
philys 3-15 terrible
ryan rucco richard jeff better than breen doris jj not close
id take precious over jovic today tomorrow and yesterday.
Prescious is a free agent.
love to have him .hes not coming here .gave up on him to early .he helped keep dirty joel scoreless.another great pat riley move.
YOU gave up on him too early as usual. And now you’re doing the same thing to Jovic. You actually called him a bust, and not just once. It is your consistent way of evaluating in very small periods of time instead of watching how the player develops.
Stop lying no you wouldn’t, I always like precious, but jovic has the potential to become wayyy better. He’s already a better shooter, has better handle, and jovic is a killer on the fast break. He still only 20, also it’s possible that he grows another inch or 2, before turning 21. Oh and niko is the better passer too.
knicks fans think bams dirty wonder what they think of joel.
ill take 3 harts no robinsons herros.
phily ny great great series
3-1 ain’t so great.
its up to pat to find a #1 brunson type player solid 2way playes hart divicenzo og.theres only so much a coach can do
Not much to say after such game, but that Jovic was solid again. I think we are watching a future heat lifer at power forward position.
Totally agree. Jovic, Jaquez, and Bam form a solid core for the future. Certainly, the team needs to add a true #1 option to be competitive.
Question is, if Herro is a part of this core.
no , next ?
No. A player has to take pride in his total game to become a good defensive player. Herro wants to be free to focus totally on offense. He could have been Devin Booker 2.0, but he hasn’t made the commitment to be a total player.