3 Heat takeaways from the huge Game 2 win vs. Celtics

It was a collective team effort where everybody thrived as every starter scored in double-digits, three scored 20 or more points, led by Tyler Herro with 24 along with Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin who both had 21. On Boston’s side, Jayson Tatum scored 28 while Jaylen Brown scored 33.

Here are three takeaways from the huge win from the Heat against the Celtics in Game 2 of the series:

Heat came out hot in the first half against the Celtic

After the dominating start in Game 1 where Boston came out to a 14-0 lead, the goal for Miami was to slow them down and gain some momentum on offense. Even though they led by one point after the first period, the Heat fought fire with fire as they made eight three-pointers out of 15 attempts with just one other make from the field being a jumper from Adebayo.

The numbers would go down in the second period, but still finished the first half with 13 made threes, more than half of what the Celtics made in Game 1 with 22 which tied a playoff record for them. The playoff record for the Heat is 20 which goes to show that clearly the focus for Miami was to light it up from deep.

Still, Boston was fighting back even though they weren’t as successful from beyond the arch as they were led by the dynamic duo of Tatum and Brown who each had 18 and 21 respectively. Especially Brown who erased the small lead Miami had with three straight deep shots that gave them a three-point lead at halftime.

While the three-point success is huge, they were just five of 11 in the paint which is very low for them by the halfway mark, they’ll need to improve there if they want to sustain and have a chance in the second half.

An exceptional second half leading to the upset win for the Heat

The third quarter was possibly the Heat’s most complete period as while they scored 27 points, they held the high-powered Celtics to just 17. They kept up their explosive three-point shooting by making six in the period, but also were much better from the field as they made 10 of their 18 attempts.

They build up their largest lead of the game at 12, though because the Celtics can light it up at any point, they brought back down their lead to single-digits. Still, the Heat were holding their own without their main stars in Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier as they surprised the Boston crowd up until then.

In the final period, the Heat never looked nervous and kept hitting threes at an insane pace as after a Haywood Highsmith three towards the middle, the team achieved 21 deep shots, a playoff record. This comes one game after the Celtics tied their own playoff record for three-pointers made.

The Heat would stand tall and finish the game with a win that is absolutely huge, and even that is an understatement. Even when Boston was threatening to make a run, Miami snuffed it down. They ended up making 23 three-pointers, which is the new record for most three-pointers made in a playoff game.

Huge momentum going into Game 3

After a deflating and dismantling loss to the Celtics in Game 1 last Sunday afternoon, the Heat came back and responded in a huge way as it was crucial to steal one in Boston if they wanted to make this a competitive series. They now have all the momentum as they head back home with the series tied at one a piece.

There’s no doubt that there was an overwhelming consensus that the Heat were likely to be swept as the Celtics were, by record and statistics, the best the team in the league. However, it wouldn’t be a Miami-Boston series without drama as head coach Erik Spoelstra got his players prepared without Butler and Rozier and shot the lights out.

The big questions are now if Miami can sustain this shooting ability as they were phenomenal from the three-point line, especially without the aforementioned two stars. However, the Heat get a much needed two days to reflect over their win and look to shock the world even more with a win in Game 3 on Saturday.