Celtics hold off Heat, sweep season series in chippy victory: 8 takeaways
Jaylen Brown finished with 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting in the victory.
The Celtics held off a late run by the Heat and claimed a 110-106 victory on Sunday as tempers flared throughout the game.
Here are the takeaways.
1. We’ve said it before. We will say it again. We will say it now: What a difference a year (and a Kristaps Porzingis) makes.
The Heat are a really good team, and they nearly overcame the Celtics despite the absence of Jimmy Butler, who was away from the team due to a personal matter. But Porzingis once again gave the Celtics a completely new look against the Heat, and Miami did not have a viable answer for his combination of size and skill. That has been the case against innumerable teams this season, but it’s especially notable against the Heat, who eliminated the Celtics and limited them offensively during the playoffs. Porzingis poured in 11 first-quarter points (the Heat lost him twice on consecutive possessions late in the period for alley-oops), and he provided floor spacing throughout that was absent in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Heat do a lot of good work defensively, but this year’s Celtics team simply has a lot of outlets, creating holes that even Erik Spoelstra has a difficult time plugging.
Porzingis finished with 25 points on 8-for-14 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds.
2. The game was competitive throughout, and it became particularly chippy in the fourth quarter when Jaylen Brown committed a flagrant foul against Duncan Robinson.
Brown and Robinson got tangled up in the corner, and Brown tried to whip his arm away from Robinson. In doing so, he threw Robinson off him at an uncomfortable angle.
Here’s a look.
After the game, Brown told reporters he was fine with how the situation unfolded.
“It was no issue from me,” Brown said. “I think he knew exactly what he was trying to do – trying to get tangled up, etc., because he didn’t want to play defense. They called the foul, but he was still trying to hang on, so I was trying to get my arm free.”
Brown added that the Heat are “known for being physical.”
“Miami is known for getting away with a lot of that stuff, kind of mucking up the game,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to protect and own your space. I feel like Duncan Robinson knew what he was doing there – trying to get tangled up, trying to draw whatever. I don’t know what he was trying to do. But I bet you he won’t do it again.”
For his part, Robinson said he thought the play was dirty.
“That’s how people miss entire seasons,” he said. “Knock on wood obviously, but those types of plays, you’ve seen them before, and throughout the history of the NBA, guys suffer really bad injuries from instances exactly like that, so just thought it was dangerous, unnecessary and excessive.”
Our two cents: Robinson did appear to initiate the contact. He also isn’t wrong that Brown made a dangerous play. Thankfully, everyone was okay in the aftermath.
3. Brown also got the last laugh, burying an enormous three with 3:13 remaining, as well as a cutting layup on the next possession (more on this in a minute) and a clutch save in the closing seconds that helped the Celtics ice the win.
Brown finished with 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
4. Jayson Tatum came up one assist short of a triple-double, pouring in 26 points to go with 10 rebounds. Offensively, he stung the Heat in a variety of ways, but he did most of his damage getting downhill to the rim. The synergy of this year’s Celtics team was on full display: Tatum found angles and lanes to the hoop that would not have been available in previous years.
Perhaps Tatum’s best assist was his last one: With 2:38 remaining, he got a switch against Robinson and patiently waited for the double-team, which eventually arrived in the form of Caleb Martin. Tatum saw Brown cutting, but – once again, in a nod to the Celtics’ spacing – Bam Adebayo was concerned that Al Horford was open above the break.
That left Brown with an easy reverse layup when Tatum lofted it to him.
5. The Celtics finished 16-for-39 from 3-point range (41 percent). Jrue Holiday was 5-for-6 from deep, scoring all 15 of his points on 3-pointers. The Heat, by comparison, were 12-for-40 at 30 percent. That the Heat managed to remain competitive against the Celtics with that disparity speaks highly of their resilience.
6. Two former Celtics guards suffered injuries during the game: Terry Rozier was helped off the floor after a hard fall. The Heat announced he would miss the rest of the game with a knee injury.
Josh Richardson, meanwhile, popped his shoulder out of place and back in again. He told reporters he would know more tomorrow.
Erik Spoelstra said both players would undergo MRIs tomorrow.
Here’s hoping both are okay.
7. Jaden Springer spoke to reporters before the game and expressed enthusiasm for joining the Celtics, noting that it’s a cool experience to join the best team in the league mid-season. He downplayed Daryl Morey’s comments in which the 76ers GM said a second-round pick would be more valuable than him over the next few years, saying he “ain’t really worried about that too much, I’m here now.”
Springer was also appreciative of Brad Stevens, who told him before he joined the team that he had been eyeing Springer for a while.
“That’s definitely something great to hear, especially coming from a place like this,” Springer said, smiling. “It’s big time.”
8. The Celtics return to the floor for their final two games before the All-Star break on Tuesday and Wednesday, when they play a home-and-home against the Brooklyn Nets. Tuesday’s game will take place in Brooklyn.
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