Sleepy Celtics answer wake-up call
His team were down by 10 in the opening minutes, and Boston coach Ime Udoka was making no effort to hide his disappointment.
His message was simple. “Wake up,” he told his team. Oh, they listened. And the NBA Eastern Conference finals are now level at 1-1, the series about to shift to Boston with the Celtics holding the home-court advantage.
Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown each had 24 and the Celtics went on a massive first-half run to roll past the Miami Heat 127-102 in Game 2 of the series yesterday.
“Guys have pride and looked at a golden opportunity that we kind of lost [in Game 1] and thought we could do much better,” Udoka said. “And we did that [in Game 2].”
Smart was a rebound shy of a triple-double, after adding 12 assists and nine rebounds.
Grant Williams scored 19 points for Boston, who used a 17-0 run late in the first quarter — fuelled by five threepointers in the span of six possessions — to take control. Payton Pritchard and Al Horford each had 10 for the Celtics.
Jimmy Butler had 29 points in 32 minutes for Miami, who fell to 7-1 at home in these playoffs. Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo each scored 14 points, and Tyler Herro added 11 for the Heat.
“This only counts as one,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s what the experienced players in the locker room and staff understand. We don’t like it. They played extremely well. You have two really good teams and we just have to figure things out.”
The Celtics — now 4-0 in these playoffs in the game immediately following a loss — made 20 shots from three-point range to Miami’s 10. Game 3 is tomorrow in Boston.
“It’s a loss, whether you lose by one or by 20,” Vincent said. “It’s regroup, go back to the drawing board and get ready for Game 3.”
And the margin could have been worse: Boston led by as many as 34 points in the fourth.
Boston trailed by 10 in the first quarter, then out-scored Miami 60-21 over the next 18 minutes.
“They came out,” Heat centre Bam Adebayo said, “and hit us in the mouth.”