Celtics
The Celtics turned the ball over constantly and couldn’t capitalize.
The Celtics have put together some gritty, hard-fought victories since the postseason began, but nothing quite like what the Heat pulled off in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday.
The Heat were without Jimmy Butler in the second half after Butler sat down with knee inflammation (after the game, Chris Haynes reported that Butler is fine, which seems at least somewhat unlikely given that a maniacally competitive player sat 24 of the biggest minutes of the season). The officials handed the Celtics a 30-14 advantage in free throw attempts, which was actually even greater before the Celtics started fouling down the stretch. The Heat didn’t even shoot particularly well — 11-for-33 from deep after a hot start.
And somehow, the Heat still found a way to hold on and win 109-103. The Celtics won or tied the final three quarters after a disastrous opening stretch during which the Heat went up by as many as 26 points, but Miami’s lead dripped away slowly, and the Celtics never quite found the spigot to speed it up. Jaylen Brown’s 3-pointer late in the fourth cut the Heat lead to one, but the Heat had one final answer — Max Strus buried a 3-pointer with two minutes left, Adebayo scored, and Kyle Lowry capped off a wildly successful return with a clutch steal.
Given that the Heat won the game almost entirely because of live-ball turnovers, it’s tempting to say the Celtics threw away a winnable game, but that minimizes how the Heat responded after Thursday’s beatdown. Both teams are clearly capable of throwing haymakers, and both are clearly capable of absorbing them and punching back.
During this postseason run, the Celtics have been really good at rallying after from disappointing losses, which is an essential quality because they’ve dropped some truly disappointing losses. On Saturday, they were outworked and out-hustled, and they lost despite enjoying a plethora of advantages.
Now they need to rally again.
More takeaways
2. Saturday’s game was a war of attrition, so here’s the injury rundown from the postgame podium: Robert Williams is “truly” day-to-day per Ime Udoka and could return as soon as Monday. Marcus Smart rolled his ankle in a scary scene captured by cameras on the court, but Udoka assumes he will be fine going forward. The same goes for Jayson Tatum, who suffered a stinger.
“My neck got caught in a weird position,” Tatum said. “Obviously I went down and felt some pain and discomfort in my neck and down my arm, and then went to the back, got it checked on, and started to gain some feeling back and got it checked by the doctors and ran some tests and decided to give it a go.”
Erik Spoelstra had no health updates for anyone on his team. Both Lowry and P.J. Tucker have been nursing injuries, and it’s unclear what is going on with Butler. He will not receive further MRIs.
3. Jaylen Brown scored 40 points, but he…
Read More News: 6 takeaways as Celtics drop ugly, injury-riddled Game 3 vs. Heat
