Celtics crank up defense, roll past Heat
MIAMI » Jaylen Brown scored 17 points to lead six Boston players in double figures, and the Celtics played airtight defense for a second consecutive night on the way to easily beating the Miami Heat 95-78 on Thursday.
Dennis Schroder scored 14, Aaron Nesmith had 13 and Romeo Langford scored 12 for Boston, which swept a back-to-back in Orlando and Miami by giving up an average of 78.5 points on 33% shooting. The Celtics topped the Magic 92-79 on Wednesday.
Jimmy Butler scored 20 points for Miami, which lost point guard Kyle Lowry to a sprained left ankle in the third quarter as part of an utterly forgettable night. The Heat shot 35%, 9 for 41 from 3-point range and managed a total of 55 points in the final three quarters.
Duncan Robinson had 16 points on 5-for-17 shooting — all of it from 3-point range — for the Heat, and Bam Adebayo scored 13.
The Heat got what had been a 20-point deficit down to eight late in the third quarter, a 14-2 run making it 62-54.
Whatever hope Miami had at that point didn’t last for long. Boston closed the third on an 11-1 run to go up by 18, Lowry limped into the locker room in obvious pain, and the Celtics maintained control the rest of the way.
Miami had four separate scoreless stretches of 2 minutes, 21 seconds or more in the first half alone, including a stretch of 5:38 late in the second quarter as Boston took control.
Tyler Herro scored on a drive to put Miami up 2821 with 10:50 left in the half. From there, it was all Boston.
The Celtics went on a 30-5 run over the rest of the second quarter, 15 of
those points being unanswered, and ended up taking a 51-33 lead into the half.
Boston outscored Miami 11-0 off turnovers in the half.
The Heat had the secondworst second quarter in franchise history in terms of points scored (9, two more than they had against
Charlotte on Dec. 23, 1995) and point differential (24, two shy of the 26-point difference against Charlotte on March 11, 2020).
JAZZ 116, HAWKS 98 » Jordan Clarkson bounced back from his worst game of the season, scoring 30 points to lead Utah to a victory over Atlanta despite the absence of Donovan Mitchell.
Utah’s star guard did not dress because of a sprained right ankle, but Clarkson picked up the slack off the bench to give the Jazz their eighth victory in nine games this season.
The game was tight through the first three quarters, with the Jazz heading to the final period up 75-74.
But Utah blew away the home team in the final 12 minutes, knocking down eight 3-pointers while hitting 13 of their final 22 shots.
Clarkson was coming off a miserable game Tuesday night, going 0 for 11 from 3-point range and 1 of 13 overall to finish with just two points in a victory over Sacramento. It was his second straight game without a 3 after making at least one from long range in 99 consecutive games.
Undeterred, last season’s Sixth Man of the Year kept right on firing against the Hawks, hitting 4 of 10 beyond the arc and 10 of 19 overall for a season high in points.
Trae Young scored 21 points for the Hawks, who shot just 42.7% from the field, including 7 of 28 on 3-pointers. It was Atlanta’s first loss in four games at State Farm Arena this season.
76ERS 109, PISTONS 98 » Seth Curry scored 23 points, Tyrese Maxey added 20 and short-handed Philadelphia beat Detroit.
Joel Embiid had 19 points and nine rebounds for Philadelphia. Shake Milton scored 16 points.
The Sixers, playing for the second straight night, only used eight players. Furkan Korkmaz (wrist) sat out, while former Pistons forward Tobias Harris remained sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols.
Jeremi Grant scored 27 for the Pistons, but only five in the second half. Cade Cunningham had 18 points and 11 rebounds.