Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Celtics sacked Kaseya Center, taking a 2-1 lead in the series

The Celtics smoked the understaffed Heat at Kaseya Center, taking a 2-1 lead in the series.

The Heat was absent Jimmy Butler (knee), Delon Wright (personal reasons) and Terry Rozier (neck).

The Celtics’ defense blocked the hosts from prosperity, allowing only three points through the first six minutes and then five of 21 attempts in the first quarter. On offense, Kristaps Porziņģis blasted the zone and man coverage with a pair of trays, plus slammed a lob from Jrue Holiday in the half-court. Jaylen Brown added six points on three of eight looks.

Haywood Highsmith and Bam Adebayo were the only Heatles who made multiple field goals early. The former scored on two isolation drives to the rim. The latter hit a baseline jumper with contact and logged a putback.

Next, the Heat’s defense yielded, giving up 42 points on 65.2% shooting in the second quarter. Jayson Tatum made five freebies, two trifectas and an iso step-back jumper over Caleb Martin. Derrick White put up a dozen on two 3-pointers, a tip-in off Brown’s missed freebie plus another putback in transition and a cut through the middle for a layup. The rest of the Celtics converted seven of 10 baskets.

Tyler Herro answered for the Heat with 10 points, canning a floater and 3-pointer against Porziņģis in drop coverage and another three when KP came up closer after the screen. Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jović and Adebayo scored four more points apiece.

At halftime, the Heat was down 39-63 and was outrebounded by 12. On top of that, the squad had 12 paint points, none on the break, five via second chances, two after turnovers and six from the bench.

The Celtics had 26 interior points, two in the open court, 10 on extra tries, 19 after turnovers and 14 from the reserves.

Out of the intermission, Brown spun past Herro to the cup, beat JJJ on the baseline for a jam, downed a floater in the lane and hooked over Adebayo at close range. White further contributed four points.

For the Heat, Adebayo maneuvered on the baseline around White and Porziņģis for a layup, dunked on the break and canned a floater at the dunker spot. Herro, Jović and Jaquez followed his lead, but it wasn’t enough.

The fourth quarter began with the Heat down 61-87.

Adebayo dunked over Porziņģis to cut the deficit to 27 points and later a hook over White, slicing the disparity down to 24 with six minutes left. And JJJ and Patty Mills combined for 11 points.

The Celtics produced 17 points on 35.7% accuracy in the fourth quarter.

The Heat lost 84-104 and was beat on the glass by seven. To boot, the team had 34 paint points, six on the break, 11 via second chances, four after turnovers and 17 from the bench.

Adebayo scored 20 points on eight of 18 attempts, with nine rebounds and three assists. Jović had 15 points on 45.5% shootings, with eight rebounds and one assist. Herro put up 15 points on five of 16 looks, with two rebounds, two assists and four turnovers. And Jaquez logged a dozen, making 38.5% of his tries and picked up five rebounds, five assists and three turnovers.

The Celtics had 42 paint points, two in the open court, 17 on extra tries, 24 after turnovers and 23 from the reserves.

Brown (22), Tatum (22), Porziņģis (18) and White (16) were the Celtics’ double-digit scorers.

At the postgame presser, Spoelstra said, “Early on, I thought the process was solid. We missed some open shots and then we made mistakes on the other end.”

Adebayo said, “We just made mistake after mistake on offense. Not communicating, throwing the ball away. Turnovers that shouldn’t happen in the playoffs.”

Jović said, “Our fans deserve to see us be better.”

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