Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat take Game 1 from the Celtics in Boston

The Celtics couldn’t stop Jimmy Butler from maneuvering left. In the first quarter, he logged a dozen points, unbothered by his matchup, with two dimes, two rebounds and two steals.

In the first quarter, the Heat converted 52.4% of its attempts and half from deep. Yet, the visitor’s issue throughout the first half offensively was ball security. Three poor passes and an illegal pick resulted in four turnovers to Boston’s three.

The Celtics also picked up five offensive rebounds in the opening frame. This resulted in the hosts taking six more shots to start, but they only had a two-point lead to show for it.

Kyle Lowry kicked off the second quarter by attacking Robert Williams III in drop coverage. He logged every minute of the interval and made five straight buckets off the dribble or in a stationary position on the wing.

Without Lowry’s contributions before halftime, Miami would have been toast. He was the only Heatle to register more than one field goal in the second quarter while the defense reacted slowly to rim pressure. In a six-minute stretch, the Celtics went on a 25-10 run that included eight paint finishes without a miss.

Jayson Tatum repped the hosts with 18 points on 53.8% shooting with five rebounds in the first half. His partner Jaylen Brown had 11 coming from putbacks, transition attacks, two floaters and a cutting layup through the middle. Williams, too, was problematic for Miami, hitting five shots off putbacks and rim runs.

The Heat was down 57-66 at halftime. The White and Red made 53.7% of its tries, but the Green had taken five more shots from the field and six extra at the charity line.

In the third quarter, the Heat stormed back into the match, outscoring the Celtics 46-25. Five consecutive baskets by Max Strus, Kevin Love, Gabe Vincent and Adebayo ignited the group and cut its deficit to a point after being down 12 a minute into the frame.

Butler logged another dozen points, plus a steal. He took three trips to the line, making all five freebies, nailing buckets on the baseline and in the corner.

Strus led for the Heat with 13 on his scorecard for quarter three. Mad Max splashed two pull-up triples on the wings and one catch-and-release banger in the corner.

Miami entered the fourth quarter up 12 points, but the offense cooling down allowed Boston to get within four.

Tatum didn’t register a field goal attempt for the Celtics in the fourth, but he was fouled on three drives and scored six points at the line. Brown punctured the lane three times, taking advantage of Miami’s willingness to switch. Brown’s only misses late were behind the arc.

Yet the Heat had Butler. With over six minutes left, #22 stripped Brown and picked up two interceptions in the passing lanes, bringing his total to six takeaways. Shockingly, Al Horford tried a cross-court pass from corner to wing that Butler stole. Unsurprisingly, Tatum’s tunnel vision blinded him from seeing Butler camped out at the elbow as a spy, waiting for the dish to Brown.

In crunch time, Butler isolated White on the right wing and darted into the paint for a turnaround jumper. Next, he targeted Malcolm Brogdon on a switch and dribbled down to the baseline for a 13-footer. His last basket was a right-wing triple contested by Brogdon that briefly extended the Heat’s lead to 10 points with a minute left.

The Heat won Game 1 123-116.

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra said there wasn’t much said at halftime regarding the nine-point deficit.

“Our guys knew,” Spoelstra said. “Playing against a very good basketball team in the first half, we had 11 turnovers, and they had 40 in the paint. I can’t say that’s just all us. That’s what they are capable of doing if we are not really on top of our game… We’ve been in a lot of these situations where we have to battle back from deficits even on the road. So, we started to chip away at it and finally got the lead and were able to take control from there.”

When Butler was asked about taking away home-court advantage from the Celtics, he said, “We are just playing really good basketball. More than anything, we are staying together through the good and through the bad. It is a game of runs, and we can talk to one another. I think that’s what ultimately makes me smile is the fact that when things aren’t going our way, we can look at each other eye-to-eye and know when somebody is messing around. And we can fix it…”

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