Quick Hitters Butler scores 41; Heat take Game 1 from Celtics 118-107

MIaMI — His team was down by eight at halftime, and Miami coach erik spoelstra went into the locker room ready to deliver a big speech.

Turns out, one wasn’t needed. Jimmy Butler decided to let his play do the talking.

Butler scored 27 of his 41 points in the second half, and a huge third quarter by the Heat carried them to a 118-107 win over the short-handed Boston Celtics 118-107 in Game 1 of the eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.

“Jimmy Butler is an elite competitor,” spoelstra said. “There’s a lot of guys in this league that are playing basketball. He’s competing to win. That’s a totally different thing and he does that as well as anybody in this league.”

Tyler Herro scored 18 and Gabe Vincent added 17 for the Heat, who outscored Boston 39-14 in the third quarter. Butler had 17 alone in the third, outscoring the Celtics by himself over those 12 minutes.

Boston shot 2 for 15 in that third quarter.

“We won three quarters other than that, but obviously that one is going to stand out,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “We semi-bounced back in the fourth and started to play well again and matched their physicality, but 39-14 on 2-for-15 is tough to overcome.”