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Celtics reassert superiority in series with 104-84 pasting of Heat for 2-1 lead

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on

Published in Basketball

MIAMI — The Boston Celtics offered a reminder Saturday night at Kaseya Center of why they finished the season with the NBA’s best record and entered this opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Miami Heat as overwhelming favorites.

While there won’t be a sweep after the Heat’s shocking Game 2 victory Wednesday night at TD Garden, there might yet be the expected four blowouts.

Saturday, there was another one, with the Celtics pushing their lead to 29 on the way to a 104-84 decision to put them up 2-1 in this best-of-seven matchup. That’s after the Celtics went up 34 last Sunday in a 20-point Game 1 victory.

Unlike Wednesday night, when the Heat sizzled with their shooting and stifled with their defense, this time the talent deficit was clear as the Heat continued to play without injured stars Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier.

After getting 24 points and 14 assists Wednesday from Tyler Herro, this time there were 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting and two assists. Otherwise, the Heat got 20 points and nine rebounds from Bam Adebayo, 15 points and eight rebounds from Nikola Jovic, and 12 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr.

The Celtics got 22 points apiece from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, 18 from Kristaps Porzingis and 16 from Derrick White.

 

After shooting 24 of 43 on 3-pointers in Wednesday night’s Game 2 victory, the Heat this time closed 9 of 28 from beyond the arc. After limiting Porzingis to 1-of-9 shooting in Game 2, the Heat this time saw him close 5 of 9.

Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s playoff game:

— 1. Game flow: The Celtics led 21-12 after the first quarter and 63-39 at halftime.

When the Celtics pushed their lead to 25 in the second period, it was the second game they had such a lead in the series. The Celtics also had 22 such games with a lead of 25-point or more during the regular season.

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