Miami (AP) — Coach Joe Mazzulla of Boston is an avid moviegoer, and last season, he made headlines when he admitted to watching “The Town” multiple times a week. He also recently saw “A Bronx Tale,” a 1993 crime drama, which he also gave two thumbs up. In the East Finals rematch, Tatum scored 26 points as the Celtics humiliated the Heat, 143-110.
One of the most important quotes from that film is “Nobody cares.”
That was exactly how he felt about the Heat blowing him out.
Miami suffered its fifth straight loss on Thursday night as the Celtics defeated the struggling Heat 143-110 thanks to 22 3-pointers hit by Jayson Tatum, who finished with 26 points, and Kristaps Porzingis, who had 19 before spraining his left ankle.
This was a great game, but if we don’t learn the necessary lessons and apply them to the next one, it really doesn’t matter in the big picture, Mazzulla stated. “So, we’ll enjoy it until we get to the plane and then it’s on to the next one.” Jim Harbaugh was returning to the NFL as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
There was enough to be happy about. With a 33-point margin, Boston’s victory over Miami was the most lopsided in the 172 encounters between the two teams—including playoff games—and the 143 points scored against Miami were a record for the team. The Celtics outrebounded the opposition 47–31 and shot 64%.
The NBA-leading Celtics were led by Jaylen Brown with 18 points, Jrue Holiday with 17, and Derrick White with 15. They are 2-0 this season versus the team who defeated them in the Eastern Conference finals the previous season, and they have improved to 35-10.
“We just learned from last year, getting so close and not getting over that hump,” Tatum stated.
Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored 19 points, while Jimmy Butler contributed 17. The Heat are on their longest losing streak since March 2021, when they lost six straight games.
I thought there were a lot of defensive blunders, miscommunications, and other things that happened during the game that we neglected to address and had to pay for,” Adebayo remarked.
FanDuel Sportsbook had the Heat as 8 1/2-point underdogs at the start of the contest. They hadn’t been this much of an underdog in their home arena since Golden State was favored by 9 1/2 points on February 27, 2019, when Miami won 126-125.
That was not how this one ended for Miami. Not even near.
Boston did not take long to demonstrate why the oddsmakers took their actions. The first quarter saw the Celtics go up 40–25 after an 18–7 run that lasted three minutes. Boston was off and running. At the half, Boston led 77-64 and the Celtics were in complete control.
And Miami’s situation simply grew worse.
With one minute remaining in the third quarter, Boston led 113-90 going into the fourth quarter, while the Heat entered the game having surrendered an average of 110.5 points thus far this season. It was only the fourth time in Heat history that a Miami team gave up that many points in the first 36 minutes of a game, even including the playoffs. Jayson Tatum considers the passing of Kobe Bryant four years ago.
Three of Miami’s last five games have seen the team trailed by at least 24 points: 37 against Toronto on January 17, 24 against Orlando on Sunday, and 34 against Boston on Thursday. And the three most lopsided losses this Heat season resulted from those three games.
Erik Spoelstra, the coach of the Heat, stated, “What went wrong was we faced a very potent offensive team that’s been doing this for several months.” It was a humble evening. Indeed, it is true. Tonight they put us in our place.
Next
Saturday night, the Celtics will host the Los Angeles Clippers.
Heat: This Saturday in New York.