Caught in Miami vise
Celtics go cold vs. Heat
MIAMI — The Celtics had every right to curse a schedule that had them going from home to South Florida to complete a back-to-back. But they had the good sense to be far more angry with themselves after abandoning the principles that allowed them to carry a four-game winning streak into this one. The same Celts who’d had 30 or more assists in five straight games essentially said, “Ball movement? We don’t need no stinking ball movement.” So the Bostonians lapsed into iso ball and isolated themselves all the way into a 115-99 loss to the Heat last night. There was frustration all around, Marcus Morris offering a small shove to Jaylen Brown as the two exchanged words and were separated during a second quarter timeout after some lax play in what was a threepoint game at the time. Kyrie Irving led the Celts with 22 points, half of which came in the first quarter when his club was reasonably awake. But even when the C’s were hitting six of their first seven shots, the hoops weren’t coming as a result of the crisp passing Brad Stevens so desires. On Vice Night, Dwyane Wade played into the throwback theme, coming off the bench to lead the Heat with 19 points. The Celts were simply caught in a Miami vise, shooting just 40.4 percent after leaving their chilly home for a place where the temperature hit 72. Irving made 10-of-19 shots, but that wasn’t nearly good enough to satisfy him. A short while after the C’s had gathered in their dressing room, he exited for a half-hour shooting session upstairs on the Heat practice court. “It’s not so much about the frustration from the game,” Irving said. “It’s just more or less therapeutic for you just to go out there and mentally just feel good about your game and things you could have taken advantage of and you could prepare better for nextgame. “We’re staying over in Miami, so I’d rather be in here than be out in Miami right now.” The Celtics were out of it for much of the night. On why the offense wasn’t up to recent par, Stevens said, “Probably making all those shots at the start that were great shots, but we were not generating much into the paint and we kept shooting tough, long, contested shots without much real attack.” Marcus Smart looked at the explosive start with 15 points in the first 3:43 and said, “It’s fool’s gold. It’s fool’s gold. You know, you play a team like Miami, they’re young, they’re ready, they’ve got a lot to prove, and they’re trying to prove themselves. They’ve been playing good. And eventually that iso ball with a team like that, they’re athletic and they’ve got guys that can defend. It’s not going to work the whole game.” Over the last two minutes of the first half and first four of the second, the Celtics were outscored 21-3. That took them from down an uncomfortable but modest eight to a 26-point deficit. But just when it looked as if the C’s would tumble into the Port of Miami waters just outside the east end of American Airlines Arena, they showed a life that, under the scheduling circumstances, had to scare the daylights out of the Heat. The Celts frightened their hosts even more when they made a mirror move with a 21-3 run of their own over 4½ minutes. Morris, Jayson Tatum, Smart and Irving delivered the blows that got the guests within eight, and Robert Williams (a plus-15 in 14 minutes) came off the bench to provide needed energy. But Wade, just seven days shy of his 37th birthday, hit a pair of treys and an 8-foot floater to calm down the Heat young’uns. And when the Celts opened the fourth quarter with Al Horford’s only hoop of the game in eight tries to make it a ninepoint game and maintain some doubt as to the outcome, Wade scored inside then stole the ball from Terry Rozier and finished off a fast break to start a 12-2 run that turned into a headlock.
HEAT CELTICS 115 99