If the Celtics go on to win their second consecutive NBA championship, there will inevitably be highlight videos made showing their most prominent wins during their journey. It is unlikely that Monday’s 108-89 romp against the Heat at TD Garden would be part of the package.
Both teams were considerably undermanned, and the players who were available submitted pretty clunky performances. But the Celtics are so good that their clunky performances can lead to 19-point wins anyway. They committed nine turnovers in the third quarter and somehow outscored Miami by seven points during the period. Jayson Tatum was 7 for 21 from the field with six turnovers, but the others did enough.
Jaylen Brown finished with 29 points and 7 rebounds and Payton Pritchard came off the bench and scored 25 points, his fourth game in the row with 20 or more.
Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis sat out to rest, Jrue Holiday was sidelined due to knee soreness, and Sam Hauser was out for personal reasons. The Heat were missing Jimmy Butler [knee], Nikola Jovic [ankle], Josh Richardson [illness] and Kevin Love [back]. Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 19 points apiece to lead Miami, which made just 7 of 34 3-pointers.
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The Heat grabbed a 7-0 lead after the game’s first 100 seconds, but that is mostly where their good vibes were halted. Miami got plenty of wide-open 3-point looks throughout the first half and missed the vast majority of them, a fateful result against a team as offensively gifted as Boston.
The Celtics actually missed their first four 3-pointers of the game and pushed back with a 17-2 burst that consisted exclusively of two-pointers and free throws until Tatum ended it with a long ball. Luke Kornet led the way with three baskets inside.
Mazzulla leaned into the lack of available personnel by giving just about everyone a chance in the opening half. He usually puts two or three subs in at the first timeout, but went with a wave of four this time that included Pritchard, Drew Peterson, Xavier Tillman and Neemias Queta.
Pritchard took over the game soon after checking in, continuing a recent trend. Over a brief stretch he drilled a deep 3-pointer, backed down his defender and scored inside, and hustled to save a ball that was careening out of bounds before firing it to Peterson, who drew two free throws.
The second quarter brought more of the same for Pritchard. He hit another 3, converted a layup, and with 6:23 left he curled off a screen, caught an inbounds pass from Tatum and connected on his fourth 3 of the half, giving Boston a 48-35 lead. After starting the game 0 for 4 from beyond the arc, the Celtics made 9 of 16, returning some normalcy to their attack.
Miami hit just 3 of 18 3-pointers in the first half and went to the break trailing, 60-45.
The start of the third quarter was a mess for Boston. They turned the ball over on their first four possessions, with Tatum responsible for three of the gaffes. A 3-pointer from the right corner by Highsmith capped a quick 7-0 Heat burst and pulled Miami within 60-52.
But Mazzulla called timeout and the Celtics answered with eight quick points, with Tatum hitting a 3-pointer during the flurry and slapping his hands together in an it’s-about-time way. The Celtics’ turnover issues resurfaced later in the period, but it did not matter. The Celtics committed nine during the quarter and outscored the Heat by seven, anyway, an almost unfathomable result.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by White early in the fourth stretched Boston’s advantage to 91-67 and all but finished off Miami.
