With a career-high 23 3-pointers made by Miami, along with 14 assists, Tyler Herro led the Heat to a 111-101 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, tying their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.
The Heat rebounded from a Game 1 blowout with 21 points and 10 rebounds from Bam Adebayo and 21 points from Caleb Martin, their new Celtics rival. The Heat shot 53.5% (23 of 43) from beyond the arc. The 20 3-pointers Miami had made in their playoff debut against the Bucks in the 2021 first round were broken by that.
For the top-seeded Boston team, Jaylen Brown scored 33 points. In Boston’s 114-94 victory on Sunday, Jayson Tatum scored 28 points while appearing unaffected by Martin’s hard foul, which sent him flying to the floor with less than a minute remaining.
Games 3 and 4 of the series are scheduled for Miami on Saturday and Monday.
Despite a crowd still enthused after witnessing their star take a hard fall in the series opener, the Celtics did not make use of their home-court advantage in the NBA Finals, even though they won 64 games during the regular season.
On Sunday, Tatum recorded his first-ever postseason triple-double, tallying 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a game that saw Boston lead by as many as 34 points in the half. But the real concern was how he would recover from Martin undermining him when he went for a rebound.
Tatum scored 14 points in the opening quarter of Game 2. Additionally, Martin was vociferously jeered each time he touched the ball. All it did was rekindle his energy and that of the Heat, who needed to win a play-in game in order to have a chance to play the Celtics.
With two minutes remaining in the first half, Miami had a five-point lead, 55-50, but Brown quickly opened up a four-point lead with three consecutive 3-pointers. The next time out, Brown missed a three-pointer, but his layup in the closing seconds made the halftime score 61-58.
With less than four minutes remaining in the third, Miami embarked on a 10-0 run to take an 82-70 lead. With three minutes remaining, Boston narrowed the lead to six, 102-96, but Martin made a three-pointer, and the Celtics were never within two possessions again.
