Miami Heat get wake up call with tough Game 2 loss

The Boston Celtics take control early and absolutely dominate the Miami Heat 127-102 in Game 2 at the FTX Arena. Jimmy Butler gave his usual numbers, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics got reinforcements in Al Horford and DPOY Marcus Smart and rode a complete team effort to get this series tied 1-1.

The start of this game actually looked great for the Heat. PJ Tucker scored the games first five points and the team was connected on the defensive end. Unfortunately, it only took the Celtics and specifically Smart a few minutes to impose their will on this game with their outside shooting and suffocating defense. They could not miss from deep as they hit 10 of their first 11 shots from three point range and rode that hot shooting to a 70-45 lead at halftime. They finished the game with 20 three pointers made on 50% shooting. Plus, it’s hard to deny the impact Smart had on both ends of the court as he finished the game with 24 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds, three steals and one block.

Honestly, this was a lack of focus and attention to detail, outside of those opening minutes, from the Miami Heat. Aside from Jimmy, Gabe Vincent and a few minutes from Tyler Herro there was really nothing going for Miami on the offensive end. There have been times throughout the regular season where the Heat fail to get stops on the defensive end and it effects their ability to get good looks on offense. They just wouldn’t have the same flow and that’s exactly what happened in this game and it just snowballed all the way to the final whistle.

Butler was getting his throughout this game and while Smart was definitely making things tougher on him, he came out in the third quarter with the same aggressiveness in Game 1. He finished the game with 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting to go with six rebounds, three assists and one steal. He was getting whatever he wanted, but it was too little too late. Vincent showed up with 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and his usual pesky defense, but that was pretty much it from the supporting cast. Herro had a few minutes early where he was getting to his spots and keeping the Heat in the game just like in Game 1. However, the Celtics made their adjustments on him and continued their three point barrage.

I‘ve been wanting to avoid talking about this, but after the performance we got from Bam Adebayo it’s impossible to ignore. What has happened to Bam? I don’t understand what I’m watching from him on the offensive end and while I definitely blame this on Bam needing to be more aggressive, Spoelstra has to find a way to get our star big man involved more. He finished this game with just six points on 3-of-6 shooting nine rebounds and two assists. That is not going to cut it at this point of the season with Kyle Lowry out with an injury. When you get into tough moments in the playoffs, you need your stars to take over and settle the game down. Bam has been unable to provide the Heat with any consistency on that end up to this point in the playoffs. The truth hurts and we need that to turn around if we want any hope to beating Boston in this series.

Lastly, I do want to mention that there were contributions from everyone for the Celtics in this game. Jayson Tatum was his usual dominant self 27 points on 8-of-13 shooting, five rebounds and five assists. Had 20 of those points in the first half to lead the Celtics. Jaylen Brown had a much better game overall with 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Plus, Grant Williams (19 points) and Payton Prichard (10 points) delivered double-digit scoring nights off the bench to fuel this blowout.

The Heat just need to throw this game away and get ready for Game 3. Reports were indicating that Lowry was getting closer to returning, but I would be surprised if we saw him that soon. We could certainly use him, but regardless they will have that next man up mentality and come out with better energy and focus in Game 3.