The Celtics deserve praise for how they handled the Heat. Can they keep it up in the next round?

With toughness and focus, the Celtics aced their first test of the postseason and won the series in five games.

Derrick White (left) scored 25 points and Al Horford had 8 in Game 5. BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF

May 2, 2024

4 minutes to read

Test, aced.

The Celtics rained 41 points on the Miami Heat in the first quarter, including 15 by their most reliable player, Derrick White, and cruised to an utterly suspenseless 118-84 victory in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series Wednesday night.

With the victory, the Celtics’ third straight after the Heat pilfered Game 2 with an outlier of a shooting performance, they advance to the second round to face the winner of the Cavaliers-Magic matchup between the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds.

While the Heat – a perennial nuisance and frequent nemesis who sent the Celtics home last season in the seven-game Eastern Conference Finals – have been dismissed until next season, school has not been, not yet.

Oh, yeah, the first test was aced.

Way to be ready, good work, well done. The Celtics deserve praise for how they handled this matchup, especially after old fears were stoked in Game 2.

The Heat were shorthanded in the series without injured star Jimmy Butler and, in Game 5, capable rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. But any team with Erik Spoelstra running the huddle and Bam Adebayo as its centerpiece is one worthy of respect, even if “Heat Culture” is little more than transparent rationale for keeping Udonis Haslem around five years after his usefulness expired.

The Celtics played with poise in this series – I loved that Jayson Tatum had 9 points on just two shots at the end of the first quarter Wednesday, forcing nothing and playing a selfless game. That’s growth. Progress. Maturity.

The Celtics were better than the Heat, healthier (even with Kristaps Porzingis missing the first of what is expected to be several games with a calf injury), and as downright tough against them as they have ever been, something Tatum addressed thoughtfully after the game.

“I think [in] the world that we live in, there’s got to be something wrong with every team,’’ he said, essentially describing the talking points of every ESPN daytime program. “That’s what they like to say.

“You can see how talented we are. I think it’s lazy, or easy, to say that teams can out-tough us. I never understood that. What’s the definition of tough? Having the louder guys on your team?

“That [expletive] don’t make you tough. Everybody has their own definition of what toughness is. It’s playing the right way, showing up every day to do your job without complaining. And I think that’s being tough.”

The Celtics aced this test of toughness, discipline, poise, and resolve against the Heat. But there are more tests immediately ahead, with the final coming, of course, in the Finals, should the Celtics fulfill expectations and advance that far.

Not that they would dare think so far ahead. One of the improvements from coach Joe Mazzulla’s first Celtics team to his second is that they really do seems to take their basketball journey one day at a time.

In wiping out the undermanned and underhanded Heat – the average margin of victory was 22 points in Boston’s four wins – the Celtics showed a focus that sometimes became hazy against Miami (among other disciplined opponents) in the past.

That comes from Mazzulla. When the Celtics coach was asked if it was nice to have a little break between series, his answer was succinct and totally in character.

“[We’ll] take tomorrow off and practice on Friday,” he said.

To Mazzulla, looking ahead is figuring out how many times he can watch “The Town” Thursday.

The Celtics are doing their best to stay grounded, in more than one sense.

After the Celtics’ shootaround Wednesday afternoon, White was asked by a reporter if he’d “come back to Earth” after his spectacular 38-point performance in the Celtics’ 102-88 victory in Game 4 in Miami.

He offered the perfect reply: “I don’t think I left Earth,” he said.

Following Wednesday night’s win, when he scored 15 first-quarter points – one less than he totaled in the first frame of his Game 4 masterpiece – en route to a 25-point, 5-rebound effort – White was as matter-of-fact as ever even as his production and confidence simply must be soaring in unison.

“[We] got past the first round, and that’s the first step,” said White, who finished with 25 points in a heck of a follow-up to his 38-point masterpiece in the Celtics’ Game 4 win. “We understand what the bigger picture is and what’s ahead of us. It doesn’t get any easier. We won’t start the next round up 1-0 because of what we did today. Just got to [move forward] and reset.”

Of course, the Celtics can’t fully reset as they prepare for their seventh trip to the conference semifinals in eight years. They don’t know who they’re playing yet. The Cavaliers, on account of their 104-103 win in Game 5 Tuesday night, lead the Magic three games to two and can clinch the series Friday.

The best thing for the Celtics would be if the series goes seven, pushing back the schedule and buying more time for Porzingis to heal.

But the opponent doesn’t matter much. The Magic have given the Celtics trouble in recent years, but they’re not a sharpshooting bunch, and the Celtics can match or even surpass their defense.

Cleveland? Donovan Mitchell has some memorable playoff highlights from his Jazz days, but the Cavaliers’ chemistry doesn’t seem quite right.

“Every team is better than us at something, and we’re better than them at something,’’ said Mazzulla. “Each series takes on a life of its own.”

No matter what shape the Celtics’ second-round matchup takes, barring anything weird or unforeseen, they should handle the Cavs or the Magic with relative ease.

Not that they’re thinking about that. Asked for a mini-scouting report on either potential next opponent, White demonstrated that his savvy isn’t restricted to the parquet.

“Uh, they’re both good,’’ said White, smiling. “It’s gonna be a challenge.”

As he made his way out of his postgame press conference, a Celtics staffer kidded him that he’d given their next opponent some real bulletin board material right there.

White laughed, because of course he had done anything but.

The Celtics aced one test. They know better than to do anything that might make the next one harder.