The Heat do it again and beat the Celtics to win 2-0

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) jumps to make a pass over Kemba Walker (8), Brad Wanamaker (9) and Jayson Tatum (0) of the Boston Celtics during the second half of a postseason basketball game of the NBA conference, Thursday, September. 17, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Goran Dragic scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo led a big rally in the third quarter to finish with 21, and the Miami Heat pulled off another comeback to beat the Boston Celtics 106-101 and take a 2 lead. -0 in the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night.

Duncan Robinson scored 18 points, Jimmy Butler 14, Jae Crowder 12 and Tyler Herro 11. The Heat trailed by 17 in the second quarter and trailed by 13 at halftime.

They had been 0-21 in playoff games when they trailed by at least that much at halftime. They are now 1-21 with two wins from their first NBA Finals since 2014.

“We like to make things difficult for ourselves,” Butler said. “We like to be down in the double digits and be the kids back.”

Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics, top left, and center Daniel Theis, bottom left, attempt to take control of a fumble against Goran Dragic of the Miami Heat, top right, and forward Bam Adebayo, bottom Right, during the second half of an NBA conference final playoff basketball game, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)

Kemba Walker scored 23 points for Boston, which had 21 apiece from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown missed a 3 corner that would have tied him with 15 seconds left, and Butler sealed it with two free throws with 7.4 seconds left.

The third game is Saturday. Dragic, who was playing on the third anniversary of his best basketball moment, leading Slovenia to the European Championship, scored nine points in the fourth quarter.

The Heat took a 2-0 series lead for the 11th time in coach Erik Spoelstra’s tenure. The previous 10 instances have won.

The Heat got into big trouble in the first period of the series by scoring 18 points in the first quarter and 16 points in the third. In Game 2, another 18-point quarter, the second, sent Boston halfway up comfortably, 60-47.

Miami outscored Boston 37-17 in the third quarter, with Adebayo, the defensive hero of Game 1, outscoring and nearly outscoring the Celtics on his own. Boston was 4-of-12 from the ground in the fourth, Adebayo was 7-of-8 on his way to a 15-point span and the Heat led 84-77 when finished.

With that, it was Boston’s turn to recover. The Celtics went 15-2 in the fourth, silenced the Heat for nearly seven minutes and were up 94-89 on Walker’s 3-pointer with 4:25 to play.

That only set the stage for another rally: Miami ended the game on a 17-7 streak.

“Team effort,” Butler said.

TIPS
Heat: Miami’s 20-point differential in the third quarter was a Heat record for that quarter in the playoffs, and the sixth time in the history of the Heat’s playoffs that they outscored an opponent by at least 20 in any quarter. … Robinson, who was 2-for-9-3 in his last two games, had four in the first quarter.

Celtics: Gordon Hayward (ankle) was out. … Enes Kanter and Romeo Langford got first-quarter minutes after not playing in Game 1, but Langford left after about a minute with an adductor strain. Kanter had nine points and six rebounds in eight minutes of the first half.

ALL 3 ARE WILD
Crowder’s 3-pointer with 5:43 left in the third quarter was fittingly 33,333 in NBA playoff history.

HBCU NIGHT
Approximately 100 students and alumni from more than 60 historically black colleges and universities were able to watch (via video screens) as part of the NBA’s HBCU Virtual Fan Night. They also held a question and answer session with the Philadelphia forward and Norfolk State University alumnus Kyle O’Quinn at halftime.

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