Pritchard putback at buzzer proves to be deciding factor
No, this did not exactly feel like a continuation of last season’s Eastern Conference finals, not with Gordon Hayward gone from the Celtics and Kemba Walker sidelined for Boston, not with Jae Crowder having left the Heat for the Suns, not with the Heat in their tri- colored Vice Versa uniforms.
But because it was Heat- Celtics, it still had plenty of edge to it, even though it was just the Heat’s seventh game of the season.
So even after the Celtics jumped to an early 17- point lead, it ultimately came down to a closing statement, in what turned into a 107- 105 Celtics victory Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“You figure it ’ll be possession basketball going down the stretch,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the typically tight finish to Heat- Celtics.
Tied 80- 80 going into the fourth, the game was decided on a Payton Pritchard putback basket with two- tenths of a second left.
“He just found an open gap and the ball went right to him,” Spoelstra said.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with a season- high 26 points, supported by 15 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds from Bam Adebayo and 16 points from Duncan Robinson.
For the Celtics, who lost 4- 2 to the Heat in last season’s East finals, there were 27 points from Jayson Tatum and 21 from Jaylen Brown.
“Whenever we play them, it’s coming down to the last couple of possessions,” Robinson said.
As it was, the game nearly wasn’t played, with the teams dealing with the emotional ramifications of situations in Wisconsin with Jacob Blake and Washington with the election protests.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens, in fact, called his wife 30 minutes before tipoff uncertain if the games was going to be played.
“To be honest,” Stevens said, “I didn’t think we were playing.”
“Everyone,” Robinson said, “was playing that game with a heavy heart.”
Five degrees of Heat from Wednesday’s game:
1. End game: The Celtics tied it 95- 95 with 4 minutes, 6 seconds to play on a Brown 3- pointer against the Heat zone, after the Heat led by four earlier in the period.
From there, a 10- 0 Boston run followed, with 3- pointers from Tatum and Brown, and a pair of Daniel Theis baskets, for a 105- 95 lead with 1: 17 to play.
And then the Heat responded with a 10- 0 run of their own, in 53 seconds.
A pair of Robinson 3- pointers followed to pull the Heat within 105- 101. Fouled on the second of those two, Robinson completed the four- point play to make it 105- 102 with 38.9 seconds left.
From there, Goran Dragic stepped up with a 3- pointer with 13.4 seconds left to tie it 105- 105, before Pritchard scored the game winner, when the Heat failed to block out on a missed Marcus Smart layup attempt.
The game ended when the Heat were unable to get a tip- in from Adebayo at the rim.
2. Butler’s bounce: Make it consecutive solid efforts for Butler, who had struggled at the start of the season with an ankle injury.
This time he was up to 14 points by the intermission, twice as many as any teammate at that stage.
“That’s what great players will do, get you settled,” Spoelstra said. “He was great on both sides of the floor.”
Butler shot 8 of 9 from the foul line and added eight rebounds.
“It wasn’t enough, that’s all that really matters,” Butler said.
3. Bam boost: The
Celtics added Tristan Thompson in hopes of finding a way to counter Adebayo’s dominance for considerable portions of those 2020 Eastern Conference finals.
No matter, with Adebayo again filling the box score in support of Butler.
Still, the result, not the stats, is what sat with Adebayo when it was over.
“We’re at the point where we’ve got to figure this out, before it’s too late,” Adebayo said, with the Heat falling to 3- 4.
“We need to fix this situation right now.”
4. Robinson’s record: With his second 3- pointer of the game, early in the third period, Robinson became the fastest NBA player to 300 3- pointers, doing it in his 95th career game.
The previous fastest were Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, who each did it in their 117th career game.
Next fastest beyond that: Trae Young ( 123 games), Donovan Mitchell ( 132) and Robert Covington ( 134).
“It’s an honor. It’s humbling,” Robinson said. “Obviously, you want something like that to come in a win.”
5. Same lineup: For the first time this season, the Heat opened with the same lineup as the previous game.
That kept Kelly Olynyk as the starting power forward, after previous turns at the starting position by Moe Harkless, Meyers Leonard and Andre Iguodala.
“I think the consistency of the nine or 10 guys we’re playing, guys are pretty comfortable with that,” Spoelstra said.
Harkless sat out Wednesday due to a hard fall late in Monday’s victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder that left him with a bruised left arm.