Business Trip Butler Getting It Done

Warmth 106 – Celtics 101 (Miami leads collection 2-0)

 

Jimmy Butler guided the Warmth to their second straight win over the Celtics in Sport 2 on Thursday, tallying 14 factors, 4 rebounds, three assists, 4 steals and one turnover throughout 36 minutes. It wasn’t his most effective efficiency, as he went simply 4-of-11 from the sphere (6-of-6 from the road), however his protection was game-altering and he made some large performs on that finish of the ground in crunch time.

The Warmth once more began sluggish and dug themselves into an early gap with some sloppy first-half play, however they flipped the script after halftime and fully shut the Celtics down by way of a dominate third quarter, outscoring Boston 37-17.

“We prefer to make it arduous on ourselves,” Butler quipped after the sport. “We like being down double digits and being the comeback youngsters.”

Bam Adebayo, who had simply 4 factors on 2-of-6 taking pictures by way of the primary half of motion, performed a key function within the third-quarter drubbing – as he proceeded to crush the Celtics within the pick-and-roll and scored 15 factors on 7-of-Eight taking pictures in his nine-minute stint. He completed with 21 factors (10-of-16 FG, 1-of-2 FT), 10 rebounds, 4 assists, two steals and two turnovers in 35 minutes, and helped Miami tie a franchise report by pulling off a playoff win after trailing by 17.

Duncan Robinson bounced again from Sport 1’s 2-of-7 taking pictures efficiency, going 6-of-12 from distance on his technique to 18 factors, two rebounds, 4 assists, one block and nil turnovers in 32 minutes; whereas Goran Dragic stored his foot on the gasoline pedal with 25 factors (10-of-19 FG, 2-of-2 FT), three triples, 5 dimes, three boards and two turnovers in 34 minutes.

The Warmth have now opened the postseason 10-1 for simply the second time in franchise historical past, with the final time they achieved that feat coming in 2005. That 12 months, a spry, 23-year-old Dwyane Wade and the 32-year-old Shaquille O’Neal went on to lose a troublesome seven-game collection in opposition to the title defending Pistons. Nevertheless, the Warmth are 16-Zero in franchise historical past when main by 2-Zero to open a collection, together with 2-Zero this postseason, so this time it’s fairly attainable we’ll see a extra favorable outcome for Miami.

As for the Celtics, they’re 2-15 when trailing by 2-Zero to begin a collection, and they need to be nervous as a result of this Warmth workforce seems to be like large killers. The issue for Boston is that they have an inclination to undergo these extended scoring droughts, and after sacrificing sizable leads in back-to-back video games, there’s bother brewing within the locker room.

In line with Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, Marcus Smart and others could possibly be heard screaming at one another within the locker room after the sport, and the scene ended with Sensible storming out as he exclaimed: “y’all on that bullsh*t!” Per Washburn, who has coated the Celtics for a few years, it was one of many extra rancorous locker room arguments he had ever heard. Maybe the Celtics watched too many Clipper video games.

Sensible wasn’t nice himself, going 5-of-13 from the sphere for 14 factors, two 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal, one block and an unlucky 4 turnovers in 38 minutes.

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Kemba Walker lastly busted out of his taking pictures funk, scoring a team-high 23 factors on 9-of-19 taking pictures to go along with 4 triples, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block over 34 minutes, however he additionally dedicated a team-high 5 turnovers and he misplaced a few of his steam after halftime.

Whereas Bam was ripping Boston aside by way of the third quarter, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Walker all mixed for 10 factors on simply 2-of-7 taking pictures. Tatum completed with 21 factors (6-of-12 FG, 9-of-11 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal, one block and 5 turnovers in 42 minutes; whereas Brown had 21 factors (8-of-14 FG, 3-of-Four FT), six rebounds, two assists and one turnover in 39 minutes.

Brown bounced again from a poor Sport 1 efficiency and he got here by way of with some clutch buckets down the stretch to offer the Celtics an opportunity, however regardless of main by 94-89 with slightly over 4 minutes left, Boston squandered their possibilities as their offense fell aside.

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