The Boston Celtics blitzed the Miami Heat 114-94 in Game 1 of the first round of the 2023-24 NBA playoffs Sunday inside TD Garden in Boston, Mass.
This matchup was a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, were the then-No. 8-seeded Heat downed Boston in seven games after jumping out to a 3-0 advantage.
The story was a little different Sunday–especially with Miami down Jimmy Butler, who suffered an MCL sprain against Phildelphia on Wednesday, and Terry Rozier, who’s missed the last seven games with neck spasms.
Boston opened the game with a 14-point advantage and didn’t look back. After leading by 34, it let up a 35-13 run in the first 9:08 in the fourth quarter that made it a 14-point game–buoyed by Delon Wright’s five 3-pointers. Though the Heat run was too little, too late, as Boston closed the final 2:52 on an 8-2 run to reward them with a 20-point win.
The biggest differentiator was the 3-point line. Boston attempted nearly 60 percent of its attempts from 3-point range, knocking down 45 percent–or 22, to be exact–of its long-range attempts, while Miami only attempted 37 3s that resulted in just 12 makes (32.4 percent). A total of 19 of Boston’s 22 3-point makes were in the first three quarters at a 44.2 percent clip; over that span, Miami shot just 5-of-28 from deep.
Four of Boston’s five starters scored at least 17 points, led by Jayson Tatum, who tallied a team-high 23 points on 7-of-18 from the floor with 10 rebounds and 10 assists. It marked Tatum’s first career playoff triple-double and the third of his career, the most recent one coming on Jan. 5, 2023 against the Dallas Mavericks. Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting with six rebounds.
Wright finished with 15 points; Jaime Jaquez Jr. was one of the best players for Miami on the floor, tallying 16 points, four rebounds and four assists on 8-of-16 shooting; Nikola Jovic posted 10 points and six rebounds; Tyler Herro had an incredibly rough this afternoon, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists on 4-of-13 shooting.
Miami also finished a minus-10 and surrendered 10 Celtics offensive boards that led to 11 second-chance opportunities. In a game with zero margin for error, it has to do the little things to trim the gap as much as possible.
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So Heat have 2 days off to rest and regroup. Like the warriors of old, I think just a few (hope it includes Heat) can keep up with that kind of shooting specially when all five can make those 3s. It happened to us last playoffs sucks it ended in ecf then went cold in finals. Lets see what Spo and the gang will adjust game 2
the knicks are loaded with bad asses.what a tough fkn team .
I don’t see how Embiid can keep going thru a grueling playoff series. But, it is still amazing to watch what he can do at maybe 75% .
that knick game was crazy.
FK the Boston Celtics!!
I really believe that if we were fully healthy that we would beat those front running clowns in a 7 game series.
Everybody is scared of the Celtics, what the fk for?
Those mental midgets don’t possess the basketball smarts and the mental toughness to take out a fully healthy Heat squad in 7 games.
We’re not the most talented team but we have the highest bbiq and we’re the most mentally toughest team in the east. And that’s why we would’ve been east champs again.
So FK the Celtics!
Is Caleb Martin suspended yet?
No, and it’s doubtful that he will. Even staunch Boston fan Simmons said Holiday pushed Martin in the back and into Tatum.
He’ll be suspended as soon as they suspend Jaylen Brown for trying to rip Duncan Robinson’s arm right out of it’s socket a couple months back.
i believe if tatum was injured caleb would be suspended.we all know caleb plays out of contol at times.
But, as you said yourself, and as Simmons said, he was pushed into Tatum. So he still likely would not be suspended.
theres lots pushing going on when jostling for a rebound rc we know caleb plays out of control alot.his awareness at times is bad.seems he just puts his head down and not aware of other players on ct.anyway this has to be his last year here.need a josh hart type player,
Dude look at the replay Caleb was running towards the basket to get the reb and Holiday pushed him in the back and sent him crashing into Tatum.
Celtic’s fans are whiners they complain about every little fking thing and Scalabrine is a know-nothing jack-azz looking for a problem where there is none.
Correct. Whether someone believes Martin plays out of control is irrelevant to this specific incident.
Wes from All U Can Heat and Locked on Heat mentioned the average age of the starting lineup was like 24 years old. Boston’s is 5 years older. This is only going to help guys like Niko and JJJ.
As of Saturday, Terry Rozier’s injury status is week to week, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. So there’s that. This would be a much different series if Miami had Butler and Rozier healthy.
Oh well. It is what it is. You do what you can do with what you have. It’s a great learning experience for the younger players. A little humility can be a great motivator for the future. All for one and one for all! Next man up!
GO HEAT!!!
Yeah week to week does not sound good. Ugh. Well, I guess they’ll have a longer offseason to get healthy lol
Well, I was hoping for more, but I guess this is the reality. Its just not enough.
Jovic and JJJ are good, but not great yet.
Herro cant get 30 with good %, but there is no another scorer in the team, so its what it is.
I dont blame him for not being effective.
Martin, Highsmith, Bam , Herro and Dunc are clearly not in the right shape.
Wright and Love playing good is not enough.
Jovic and JJJ are solid but are rookies/bench players right now. That is a lot to ask of players with to playing starting level minutes against an experienced team.
Yes, its a tall task for them, but they are not bad. Both have potential to be starters in really good team in years to come.
Heat outrebounded 44-34.
Today’s Team Rebound Leaders:
Valanciunas: 20Zubac: 15Siakim: 13Doncic: 13Portis: 11Holmgren: 11Tatum: 10Adebayo: 6
The Heat conceeded the battle of the boards on Celtics end of the court.It was very pathetic to watch. I do not know what the rationale was for that. It was as if the Heat was saying we don’t have the size to match you guys.
bam prob had few more but they slipped out of his hands or maybe cause hes 6 9 only had 6
Bam, and the Heat need to find a way to improve their rebounding, particularly defensive rebounds. Celtics got 10 offensive rebounds to our 5. But when you have a 6’9” center going against a 7’2” center, you’re at a distinct disadvantage. Many here, like you, hfl, and others, have been saying the same thing for more than a year – we need more size/versatility on this team.
I blame the rebound disadvantage on spo, sure we definitely need more size, but spo the main culprit with small ball. The only time he uses 2 bigs is in the starting lineup, but Jovic is more of a tweener sf/pf. When jovic isn’t in, he’ll leave bam by himself or he’ll leave love as the lone big. Spo needs to have 2 bigs in at all times. He needs to give love more minutes at least 20 to 25 minutes because he’s our 2nd best rebounder, also pair him up more with bam like last year. Love only played 13 minutes last game, this is playoffs, so spo needs to stop with the minutes restrictions or give Bryant some run.
Fair point. I believe you and I and others have wanted to see Bam and Love in the lineup at the same time. It doesn’t give you more height (Jovic is taller), but Love is a better rebounder. Since Herro is not going to be pulled from the starting lineup, I’d really like to see Bam, Love, Jovic, Jaquez, Herro. Have Bryant and Highsmith be backup at c and pf.
only series wont be competitive is our series thanks adam
look at all the great players out jim zion kawhi randle cut the season adam to 60 games,and no b2bs .to much pounding on hard ct with these big guys.my team might have won the east but u need the extra $$
pels w/o zion tied 90 90 with no 1 seed.no duncs or tys on those teams guys like dunc ty cant win with non athletes,not competitive with these athletes its unfair to play them.gimme some dogs next year pat not these sissys
not gonna lie, i was still hoping we could get an upset lol. Anyway, our impending sweep will be a valuable lesson for Jaime and Niko. Lets do an on-the-fly rebuild around Bam, Jaime and Niko. The rest should be on the table
terrys a keeper.for sure that makes 4.nikos size and d are on point .just needs experience of nba
u just look at dames handle his upper body and arms compared to wonder boys.thats a big reason why ones a future hof and ones a mediocre player
lillard 29 indiana 29
dame dollar 19pts 1st qtr and hes not happy there
tys from milw maybe he’ll play better there
dame washed dont think so rc
Get out of your psychotic state, I never said that. I said he is getting older and has a really bad contract. AND YOU PERSONALLY SAID YOU WERE GLAD WE DIDN’T DO THAT DEAL. Portland wanted 3-4 players, including Jaquez, and about 4 draft picks. You are a hypocrite when it comes to how you rate players. Lillard shot 42.4% and 35.4% 3p%! That is way below the level you’ve stated is acceptable. No way jose!!!!!!
u said hes washed up yes u did .playoffs all that matters reg season tooo long dame and butler dont give a sht like lots vets all about playoffs.had 35 at halftime driving to hoop banging 3s.hes still got it.last year was his best year ever.pls watch him play and not just look at the stats from espn.com before making comments.ty
Yeah, I’ll be like you, watch one game, and reach a conclusion about a player’s total career, lol. And you constantly talk about a player’s fg% and 3p% until it works against you on the player you’re in love with at the moment.
If you were able to find my posts pre season, you’d see that I said I was a Lillard fan, but he had a horrible contract and Portland wanted too much.
dames got few more years left like jim.but port didnt want ty or wasnt crazy about our players maybe except for jjj,pats fault get better players.pat last few years been beaten out by lots gms
I did not say he was washed. I might have said he’s in decline and I stand by that. You, as usual, take 1 game, 1 quarter, 1 half, whatever,, and extrapolate it into something much more. Straight up for Butler, maybe, but I still would hesitate to pay the remainder of that ridiculous contract. No, no, no! We need younger players.
Yup, there’s plenty of gms that got to 5 playoffs, 3 ecf, and 2 finals the last 5 years.
Dame would have cost the heat too much. And if he is not shooting well he is a major negative with poor defense. Maybe he was worth the risk for a chance this year but you would sacrifice the next 3 years.
That’s right JM. He is still a talented player, but the contract length and dollar amount is a problem.
Well everyone expected it…and it happened. Maybe trying to make these Celts comfy and strike next games lol
did u c game
Nope. Game was 1am here cnt keep awake lol
14 0 to start.made a little run cut it to 3 2nd qtr .enter dunc with ty on ct aka bball suicide 4 mins late 17 pt lead.got up to 30 .
gonna watch dame and his defense think he will be with us next year
1. What was the rationale behind not contesting for offensive rebounds at the Celtics’ end of the court? In contrast, the Cs contested for rebounds at both ends of the court.
2. When a team such as the Celtics makes it obvious that they are going to rely on 3pts shooting as their preferred 1st option of scoring. Shouldn’t your perimeter defense be honed. Rather, the Cs defended the perimeter better than the Heat.
3. Though my expectation for this season’s Heat has been met ( being able to get out of the play in tournament), I salute their gallantry and pray for continual health for all those involved on this continual uphill expedition to surpass the acivement of last season.
Go Heat, Go, until the battle is officially declared over!
SunManFromDogBone
1 hour ago