Shorthanded Celtics Stumble at Home Against in 124-103 Loss to Heat

The Boston Celtics momentum coming off a perfect 6-0 road trip, came to a screeching halt Wednesday night as they were defeated by the Miami Heat 124-103 at TD Garden. The 21 point loss was Boston’s most lopsided defeat of the season.

The loss does little to impact the Celtics postseason seeding. Boston is all but locked into the two seed. As such,  the Celtics rested Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford. But while the game didn’t matter in the standings, head coach Joe Mazzulla was quick to remind after the game, that the goal is to win and the Celtics did not play well enough on Wednesday to do so.

“I mean, we’re all pissed,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, we all hate losing. And that was my message. It was a good reminder that losing still sucks. So I love the fact that the staff are all miserable. Guys are pissed. Not happy about it, but we’ve got to come back and do it again the next day. I think it’s great.”

Miami took control early in the game, leading 29-22 after the first quarter and extending their advantage to 59-45 by halftime. The Heat’s physical defense and efficient offense kept the Celtics on their heels throughout the game. By the third quarter, Miami’s lead by 22 points. The Celtics whittled the deficit to 4 but the Heat pushed the lead back up to 10 to end the quarter. 

Boston hung in early in the 4th. A Sam Hauser 3-pointer followed by an and one down low by Neemias Queta brought Boston back within 5. But the Heat hot shooting continued as they stretched the lead to 111-96 with 5 minutes remaining at which point head coach Joe Mazzulla called timeout and inserted his backups all but waving the white flag.

Tyler Herro led the Heat with 25 points, while Bam Adebayo contributed 21. Kyle Anderson gave the Heat a push off the bench with 19 points. Miami outshot the Celtics from the three, connecting on 14 of 30 attempts, while Boston shot 17 of 48 from beyond the arc.

The Celtics welcomed Jaylen Brown back to the lineup. Brown has been dealing with a lingering knee issue and when he has played has appeared less than 100 percent. He finished the night with a respectable 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. However Brown acknowledged after the game that the knee continues to be an issue.

“I was in some pain today,” Brown said. “But you know, just pushing through it, trying to find ways to still be aggressive and add value to the team and stuff like that. Just something I gotta work through and manage.”

Brown denied that the 65-game threshold for award eligibility is playing a role in his decision to play. Brown did add that the way he feels now probably isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

“It’s a good step forward,” he said. “I’ve had to come to grips that every night I’m not gonna feel my normal self, but that doesn’t mean I still can’t make plays and things like that. So it’s just something that we are working through. Today was a good step forward.”

The Celtics, now 24-13 at home, will aim to rebound in their next matchup as they continue to fine tune their approach ahead of the playoffs, with 6 games left in the regular season.