The Boston Celtics rallied from an early 11-point deficit and dominated the final three quarters in a 103-85 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday night.
The visitors overcame a nightmare shooting start (24 percent shooting, 2-of-18 from 3-point range) in the first quarter behind a sensational defensive stretch in the second quarter. Boston went on a 37-12 run to turn the game around midway through the first half.
The Celtics took command for good early in the third quarter with a 19-5 run to turn the game into a rout. Jayson Tatum erupted for 20 of his game-high 33 points in the period, leading five Celtics starters to score in double figures. Boston’s starting five combined for 94 of Boston’s 103 points despite Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday missing the game due to injury. Al Horford added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Boston also held Miami to a season-low 33.7 percent shooting from the field in the win. The Celtics improved to 22-6 on the road this season with the victory and have now won six of their last seven games overall.
Boston closes out the first half of their season on Wednesday night back at TD Garden against the San Antonio Spurs.
Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ win on Monday night.
Jayson Tatum takes over third quarter again: Two nights after putting on a show in Madison Square Garden with 19 points in the third quarter, the All-Star had quite the encore in South Beach. Tatum erupted for 20 points in the frame, going 8-of-11 from the field as he feasted against a host of Heat defenders who struggled to keep him out of the paint. Tatum also found his shooting stroke in the period going 3-of-5 from 3-point range as he scored more than half of Boston’s 36 points in the frame. The stellar 12 minutes turned what had been a close game at halftime (nine-point Boston lead) into a route as the visitors pushed their advantage to 23 points behind Tatum’s domination.
Sam Hauser is getting his groove back: The sharpshooter has dealt with injuries for much of the year that took its toll on his 3-point shoot. Slowly but surely, Hauser has been putting together more consistent performances of late and he delivered one of his best ones of the season early in this one. Hauser tied his season-high with five 3-point makes in the first half alone, leading the team with 15 points at intermission as a spot starter for an injured Jaylen Brown. The 15 first half points were a season-high for him and the outing has now pushed him back up to 40 percent shooting from 3-point range on the year.
Heat are going to be mediocre for a while: Miami was down Tyler Herro for this matchup but meager return for Jimmy Butler looked especially underwhelming against the defending champions. Andrew Wiggins remains a lackluster top scoring option while Kyle Anderson missed all five of his shots in his debut. Davion Mitchell still can’t shoot and there just isn’t enough offensive firepower across the rest of this roster. Pat Riley has made a number of bad bets in the past few years and looking for win-now talent rather than draft capital for Butler is looking like another one for this group.
Celtics defense is on the rise: It was another night for primarily double bigs for Joe Mazzulla with Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday sidelined and it paid dividends for Boston’s defense. After a slow start, the Celtics erased an 11-point Heat lead quickly with a dominant 39-12 over the final 14 and a half minutes of the first half. The Celtics limited the Heat to 4-of-29 shooting from the field during that stretch. Between terrific defensive rebounding and avoid fouling, Boston played disciplined hard nosed defense, allowing them to put together another impressive road win to improve to a NBA-best 22-6 on the season.
