The Boston Celtics opened their postseason campaign with a blowout 114-94 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1 of their first-round series, and it seemed like all was well in the world. The Heat have been a thorn in the Celtics side in the playoffs over the past few years, but without Jimmy Butler leading the way, it looked like this series could be over quickly if Game 1 was any indication.
But of course, Game 2 rolled around, and the result was a 111-101 loss for Boston. Despite the Heat being extremely shorthanded, and the Celtics having their best team in recent memory, the result was still the same. No matter who is on the floor for Miami, they are going to give Boston trouble, and that much was proven true in Game 2.
Losing, especially in the playoffs, is never a good thing, and heading back to Miami with the series knotted at one win apiece isn't exactly encouraging. However, in the long run, this loss could end up being very beneficial for the Celtics, so long as they respond the right way and come back out throwing punches in Game 3.
Celtics get much needed wake up call in Game 2 loss to Heat
The narrative surrounding this series between the Celtics and Heat has been skewed heavily in the C's favor. Fresh off a dominant regular season campaign, Boston is the heavy favorite to advance to the NBA Finals in the Eastern Conference. Even if the Heat had Butler on the floor, chances are they would not have been given much of a chance to win this series by fans and pundits everywhere.
As much as players and coaches say they don't listen to the media, it's hard to completely tone it out, especially in Boston. Plus, these guys can see the writing on the wall. The Celtics are incredibly talented, have dominated all season long, and are going against a seriously undermanned Heat team. Game 1 proved that this was, in fact, a series in which Boston should coast to victory.
Miami always has other plans, though, and they love being the overlooked underdog that somehow manages to win games in the most improbable circumstances. That's precisely what ended up happening in Game 2, and again, while losing hurts, this should prove to be the wake up call that this seemingly invincible Celtics team needs.
Any team can win on any given night in the NBA. Miami went from struggling to hit anything in Game 1 to shooting 23/43 from behind the arc in Game 2. Sure, Boston was helping them out but largely leaving them open at three-point line, but there's a very good chance the Heat won't hit 23 threes in another game the rest of the postseason (however long that ends up being).
Conversely, the Celtics offense looked completely out of sorts in this game. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown did their best to somehow gut out this win, as they combined for 61 of the team's 101 points, but they got virtually no help from any of their teammates. Again, these sorts of games happen; chances are Kristaps Porzingis isn't going to shoot 1/9 again throughout the remainder of this series.
This game is the slap in the face that Boston was due to receive. They coasted through the regular season, largely took the final month-and-a-half of the campaign off, and drew a seemingly favorable first-round matchup against one of their longtime rivals. For them to come out and fall flat on their face was one of the most obvious sports tropes waiting to happen, and it ended up happening on Wednesday night.
Give credit where credit is due; the main advantage Miami has in this series with Butler out is Erik Spoelstra on the sidelines, and he drew up a game plan that helped the Heat tie this series. He saw Boston knock down threes at will in Game 1, and basically decided to have his offense fire up shots from behind the arc all game long, while playing stingy perimeter defense on the other end of the floor.
Simply put, shooting 53.5 percent from behind the arc is unsustainable, and you can bet the Celtics are going to come out and be rejuvenated on defense in Game 3. Their offensive struggles largely came from their desire to play off of a posted-up Porzingis at the center of the offense on every single set they could, with the issue being that he had an awful game, and that it allowed Bam Adebayo to roam the paint at will.
Spoelstra made his adjustments, and Joe Mazzulla and company will make theirs over the next two days. Closing out the three-point line is crucial on defense, and offensively, the Celtics simply need to stash Porzingis at the three-point line to pull Adebayo out of the paint. It was telling that this team looked far better with Al Horford on the floor (who was a +8 on the night) rather than Porzingis (who was a team-worst -32).
There's no doubt fans will panic and assume the sky is falling after this loss to the Heat; after all, we have seen this movie before. But in that same vein of thought, we've also already seen the Celtics beat the Heat in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, and that was when they had Butler healthy. Boston has too much talent to turn in three more clunkers over the next five games to lose this series.
Maybe I will end up eating those words, but for the time being, there's no reason to panic. This was a loss that Boston was going to experience one way or another in the playoffs, and quite frankly, it's a good thing they are getting it out of the way early. They've only played two games in the postseason, and they still have a lot of time to figure things out.
It's not going to be as easy as it would appear to be on paper, because the Heat are the Heat. But even with this loss, this is still a series that the Celtics should still win. Going into enemy territory fresh off a disappointing loss obviously isn't ideal, but if Boston approaches this defeat with the right mindset, they can use it to galvanize them to go on the deep playoff run they are largely believed to be capable of producing.
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