The shorthanded Boston Celtics, missing two of their best five players in Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, handed the Miami Heat their sixth-straight loss of the season Friday night inside Kaseya Center 103-91.
Miami kept pace with Boston for three quarters, trailing 78-77. But the Heat predictably fell apart in the final frame, getting outscored 25-14 while shooting just 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) from the floor.
It was the fourth time this season where the Heat have scored less than 15 points in the fourth quarter this season, the most in the NBA.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 28 points on 8-of-21 shooting and 5-of-12 from 3-point range, corralling four rebounds with five assists. Jrue Holiday had a season-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting with five triples.
The Miami Heat have not beaten the Celtics in the regular season since Jan. 24, 2023, losing seven-straight meetings.
Andrew Wiggins tallied a team-most 23 points on 9-of-21 shooting while Tyle Herro had 19 points on 15 shots with five rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks. Miami shot 45.3 percent from the floor and 38.2 percent from 3-point range.
Bam Adebayo inexplicably took seven shots, which didn’t help matters despite Davion Mitchell posting a near 12-point, nine-rebound double-double in 35 minutes off the bench. Jaime Jaquez Jr. also contributed to 13 points and five boards on 5-of-10 shooting with a pair of corner 3s.
The Heat’s 29-37 record is the first time they have been eight games below .500 since 2014-15, one year after the Big 3 split. They will try to look going nine games below .500 tomorrow night on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies, one of the best teams in the West.
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It was a fun game most of the time, not in 4th though.
From time to time there are glimpses of what this team is capable of defensively, but the offense is incredibly limited. Its almost funny how Heat players running around like a chicken without head to get a opportunity to shot the ball.
Most, teams, if not almost all of them, has a creator running the ball, and elite shooters waiting on the wing, or less elite waiting in the corner.
Heat has Herro for that, but no shooters. Because the only one really elite shooter in the team (Dunc) must play 2 man game with Bam.
No wonder that all that effort caused the fatigue and a 4th qt. collapse.
All we can ask from the players is that they give 100% and let the chips fall where they may. I’m not going to ride that roller coaster of unrealistic dreams. What is important now is to give the young guys valuable playing experience and to fully evaluate the team to determine which players have a future in Miami and which ones don’t.
bam 7fga last night.game before 6 last 2 games area butlerish effort level ..if bam wants jewelry he knows it aint gonna be here in the near future.everybody else gave 100% especially davion
The team is in a funk. I’m sure Bam is very frustrated. Playoff Jimmy masked a bunch of the team’s problems over the past few years. Now they are all exposed. With Butler gone, there is no one ready to take over the reins on offense. Bad offense cultivates bad defense. Its hard for players to stay focused on defense when their shots aren’t falling in and they are turning the ball over. The team needs an alpha male closer (preferably a very good point guard) who can take control of the offense and not be a liability on defense. With that kind of starter, Mitchell would definitely make a great sub off the bench.
to be honest sun how many ex g leaguers are doing anything in the nba,theyre in the g league for a reason.in the nfl u can catch lightning in a bottle aka kurt warner.dolphins in the 70s were built with lots no namers.but in bball pls name one that has succeeded besides kehad johnson
Fred VanVleet.
There should be more. When maybe only fifteen guys a year get added to rosters and are still on rosters around the league a couple years after every draft, it’s logical to think there would be some talent overlooked or some late bloomers. That’s why you gotta play our three guys and give them a shot. Now we truly have nothing to lose. There is a real possibility that they would do better than some of the players we are using.
Was there at the game working, miami tried there best but in crunch time they wasn’t cutting it. I was standing next to one of them rabid fans when they started that Celtics take over chant smh.
The guys did their best. Matched the Cs in size and speed. The Cs were just better shooters.