Early surge helps Heat gain key edge on Celtics
In the race to avoid the play-in tournament, the Heat moved two games ahead of the Celtics and can essentially seal a top-6 playoff position with another win at Boston on Tuesday.
The Heat and Boston Celtics faced off in the Eastern Conference finals last season. Less than a year later, they faced off with hopes of avoiding the play-in tournament.
The stakes were certainly different on Sunday, but it was one of the biggest games of the season for both teams nonetheless.
Just like in last season’s conference finals, the Heat (37-31) came out on top in a 130-124 wire-towire win over the Celtics (35-33) on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. The two teams face off again in Boston on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Sixth-place Miami moved two games ahead of seventh-place Boston in the Eastern Conference standings with just four regularseason games left to play. Another Heat win over the Celtics on Tuesday would essentially keep Miami out of the play-in.
The play-in tournament, which will be held between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, includes the teams with the seventh-highest through the 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference.
“It certainly adds incentive,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said of the stakes attached to Tuesday’s game. “Games this time of the year no matter what are going to be high stakes, high level, highly competitive, especially coming off this game.”
The Heat dominated the Celtics in the first half, winning the opening quarter 36-23 and entering halftime with a 26-point lead.
But Boston put together a few runs to get back into the game and avoid a blowout home loss.