After an impressive Game 1 victory in overtime, the Miami Heat grabbed another 106-101 comeback win against the Boston Celtics.
It has been a good playoff bubble run Jimmy Butler and the rest of the Heat squad. The eastern conference underdogs have 10 wins in the playoffs with only one loss against the Milwaukee Bucks before eliminating them.
The Miami Heat played as a team
This Miami squad is unlike any other team we’ve seen so far where all starters scored in double figures in Game 2 with Goran Dragic leading the team with 25 points and five assists while Bam Adebayo had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Duncan Robinson was also had a great shooting night showcasing his catch and shoot skills especially during the first quarter where he nailed a couple of consecutive three-pointers to start the game. He ended up with 18 points while shooting 50% from three.
Duncan Robinson started off 3/3 from deep 😤
(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/wLv5e8W7ld
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 17, 2020
Jimmy Butler showed up in the clutch once again despite scoring only 14 points. He was very pesky on defense as he was able to grab four steals and he made a lot of stops especially in the last minutes of the fourth quarter.
Celtics collapse in the second half, chemistry stirs up
Just when the fans thought that the Boston Celtics were about to tie the series 1-1, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra changed his strategy to fight back by using a zone defense throughout most of the second half.
The momentum slowly switched to the Miami Heat after shooting two jumpers before the second quarter ended cutting the deficit to 13 points. In the third quarter, the Heat outscored the Celtics by 20 points.
In the fourth quarter, the Celtics tried to go into a run and tried to close out the Heat but they couldn’t deliver due to the exceptional defense from Jimmy Butler. At the end of the game, Marcus Smart took out his frustrations in the locker room after the second-half meltdown.
Marcus Smart is screaming in the #Celtics locker room and there is a bunch of arguing going on. Smart comes out say “y’all on that bullshit!” Team is imploding. Smart is in bathroom and there is still screaming coming from locker room.
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) September 18, 2020
Later on, Coach Brad Stevens downplayed what transpired in the locker room and Jaylen Brown also said in the post-game press conference that there were too many emotions happening.
Brad Stevens on Celtics locker room: "Guys were emotional after a hard game, hard loss."
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) September 18, 2020
Kemba Walker also acknowledged that they weren’t able to stop the Heat run in the third quarter. He also led the team in scoring for this game with 23 points while Jaylen Brown and Tatum each scored 21 points.
This isn’t the first time that NBA fans saw teams blowing big leads in the second half of the game. The previous Nuggets and Clippers series was proof that players should not get too complacent playing in the bubble.
We’ve seen the Clippers blow huge leads in the second half that’s why the Nuggets were able to advance to the finals.
The road for Boston is going to be a tough one moving forward since the momentum is with the Heat right now up 2-0. Game 3 is a must-win for them if they want to keep the championship hopes alive.
Featured image courtesy of Chris Smoove/YouTube Screenshot