Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Jimmy Butler and the Heat got humbled at home by old foes

The bigger, stronger and faster Boston Celtics annihilated the Heat at Kaseya Center on national TV. Five members of Gang Green feasted behind the arc. Jayson Tatum outplayed Jimmy Butler. And newly acquired point guard Terry Rozier started but was attacked and ineffective from the field.

Early, Kristaps Porziņģis slaughtered the Heat’s defenses in the first quarter, totaling 14 of Boston’s 42 points. He forced a switch on the left side for a layup against Haywood Highsmith, shot over Butler twice at the elbow and nailed two pick-and-pop 3-pointers as the Heat failed to shade and recover. Porziņģis’ best defender was Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, taking him out with 46 seconds left in the period for a breather.

For the hosts, Butler hit a fadeaway over Jaylen Brown in the post and a pull-up jumper over Horford at the elbow but misfired at close range after faking Porziņģis away. Adebayo swished two shots at each elbow, assisted by Tyler Herro and Rozier. And Rozier converted two buckets, maneuvering past Jrue Holiday on a hard closeout to the rim for a layup and blowing by Horford in isolation at the right corner to the cup.

Through 12 minutes, the Heat logged 29 points on 12 of 24 ventures. But it conceded 42 on 71.4% shooting.

In the second quarter, eight players scored for the Heat to reach 35 on the ledger, but the only two logging at least three field goals were Thomas Bryant and Josh Richardson. Additionally, Butler made a putback on the baseline and spun past Jaylen Brown for dos puntos. And Adebayo dropped a hook over Luke Kornet and another over Derrick White.

The Celtics matched the Heat’s 35 points behind Brown’s rim attacks, a pair of Holiday corner trifectas, and the rest of the Cs tallying seven of 15 buckets.

Tatum was held to 20% efficiency in the frame, guarded by Richardson, forcing him left for an unsuccessful elbow jumper, misfiring over Duncan Robinson on the wing and baseline and bricking against Highsmith’s late recovery to the right side.

At halftime, the Heat was down 64-77, logging 54.2% of tries. It surrendered 64.3% of looks to the Celtics and was behind on the glass by six. Furthermore, the hosts had accumulated five fast break points, 10 via second chances and seven from turnovers.

The Celtics registered 10 fastbreak points, six on extra opportunities and two after turnovers.

In the turd quarter, Rozier shot blanks on a reckless drive through traffic and faltered on a makebale floater over Holiday. And Robinson had three vain 3-point attempts.

Butler made a corner triple when the defense was absorbed by Herro’s drive, but his next basket, another on the opposite side six minutes later, fell as the Heat was behind 22 points

On the other side, Tatum and Holiday took over. The former was in target practice behind the arc. The latter made a wide open tray, hit a floater over Herro in the paint, cut back door for a layup, finished first on the break and rattled in a fadeaway over Bryant’s help.

Porziņģis sprained his ankle five minutes in and missed the rest of the night after limping to the locker room.

The fourth began with the scoreboard highlighting 113-90, the edge going to the Celtics. The lead swelled to 34 points with seven-and-a-half minutes left after the Heat made just one of its first eight shots to start the sequence.

The final interval was garbage time because not one sane person at Kaseya Center thought a grand comeback was happening. Only two Celtics starters played in the fourth- Tatum and White- no more than five minutes and change.

Lower bowl seats were emptying midway through the fourth, and the butchering was like an ancient warrior beheading a foe in combat, then tossing its head toward the backup it came with. In this case, it was Pat Riley at his usual baseline riser seat. The cadavers he examined were his group retreating to the locker room with 143 points hanging over them.

The Heat’s fifth straight loss was by 33 points. It added 15 fastbreak points, 13 on second chances and post turnovers. Adebayo had 19 on the score sheet with five rebounds. And ten Celtics shot at least 50% from the field.

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra said, “What went wrong was we faced a very potent offensive team. They’ve been doing this for several months now. It was a humbling night, that’s for sure. They put us in our place tonight.”

In the locker room, Herro said, “It’ll be great to get a win, but we can’t keep talking about it. Eventually, there has to be some action behind it.”

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