Boston Celtics haven’t suffered two consecutive losses in a long time. Boston could not close out the game, which featured nine ties and 16 lead changes.
Miami outscored Boston 27-15 over the final 12 minutes to secure its second win in the row after a three-game slump that dropped the team off the Eastern Conference top.
The Celtics were briefly there during the last week. The team personnel admitted the loss could be a valuable lesson ahead of the NBA playoffs.
”It’s a good thing for us to learn from,” Tatum said, via NBA.com. ”The season is not decided today. We’ve still got games to play, playoffs. So, we’ll be good.”
Boston were able to return to the game in the fourth cutting the lead to 98-96, but they came up empty on three straight possessions after that.
“They’re a playoff team and this is a great time for us to continue to find ways to get better,” Al Horford said, via NBA.com.
“You always obviously want to win, but I just think it’s good; we haven’t been in one of these in a while in the fourth and I think for us, the key is gonna be looking at this game tomorrow, seeing how we can improve and get better, and move on.”
Even after a loss, the Celtics had positives to take from Wednesday’s clash. They saw how the team will respond to Robert Williams absence, and how they’ll adjust to being without him.
Williams will miss 4-6 weeks of action after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus. In the first game without starting center, Boston suffered a 112-115 OT loss to the Toronto Raptors.
The Celtics’ superstar duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 51 points with Brown scoring 28 points and Tatum putting up 23 points. Tatum was able to get in his usual groove as he took only three shots during the fourth.
He wasn’t able to get off his typical high volume of shot attempts because Miami loaded up on him with two or three defenders throughout most of the second half.
“It was just great competition,” Erik Spoelstra said on the Celtics matchup. “I think there’s deep respect between the two organizations. It’s hard not to notice what Boston’s been doing the last three months. They really defend at a high level, as you can see by a lot of the turnovers that we had.”
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