Remember them?
The unkillable, zombie Heat, who spooked the Celtics into the scare of a basketball lifetime last year in Game 7?
Well, they’re back, and scarier than ever.
The Walking Dead rebooted for a surprise 12th season Wednesday night at TD Garden, when the Heat stole Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Boston 123-116. Miami’s formula felt painfully familiar. The Heat were tougher, smarter and better-coached — again.
The memory of Jayson Tatum’s spectacular 51-point performance last Sunday faded instantly into another episode of the Playoff Jimmy Butler Show. Butler proved unsolvable, scoring 35 points around seven assists and six steals. He swiped three passes in the fourth quarter alone, helping expedite yet another crunch-time collapse for these Celtics.
Meanwhile, Tatum committed three turnovers in a 90-second span down the stretch, and after his last giveaway, Butler drilled a dagger 3 to lift Miami into a 10-point lead with 1:03 left. The Heat led for the entirety of the fourth quarter, thanks to a 46-25 showing in the third that exposed all of Boston’s other problems.
What was the main issue? If you can believe it, urgency.
“We just let go of the rope,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said post-game.
That’s right.
A day after Al Horford stopped practice to remind his teammates to focus ahead of one of the biggest games of their lives, the Celtics couldn’t lift a finger to stop Miami in transition during a monster third quarter. Bam Adebayo initiated fast break after fast break, racing ahead of Boston’s defense to score or create for Butler, Kevin Love and Max Strus.
Miami more than tripled the Celtics’ in fast-break points, clobbered them on the offensive glass and led by 12 after three quarters. How could that be?
At this point, the only answer is this is part of who the Celtics are, a faulty link in their competitive DNA. Boston lost Game 1 because of a controllable: their effort. Transition defense is about purpose.
The Celtics’ sporadic effort and purpose is an established habit. The Heat have habits, too — kicking ass when the chips are down.
Wednesday’s lack of urgency undermines any trust Boston earned back over the weekend. Sure, they played with their food over a six-game series versus Atlanta, and they unfurled a red carpet for Philly to walk into a Game 7. But in both instances, Tatum saved them.
Can he do that against Miami now without home-court advantage? Against a team that thrives with a talent deficit and without a margin for error?
The Heat play on a tightrope. Butler and Adebayo are their only stars. Kyle Lowry is coming off the bench. Love, who was collecting dust in Cleveland until a midseason trade, started Wednesday. And when Miami couldn’t survive with him on the floor and Adebayo off — which allowed the Celtics to pound the glass — Heat coach Erik Spoelstra shelved Love for good in the fourth.
On the other sideline, Mazzulla repeatedly said Boston won three of the four quarters after the game. Who cares?
Butler played the entire fourth, while Mazzulla allowed Tatum to sit as the clock. Adebayo returned after the Celtics cut their lead by more than half less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Miami’s defense stabilized, and the Heat took control.
The signs were there early.
The grizzled Heat reintroduced themselves in a tight first quarter that featured 13 lead changes. Miami played clean, hard basketball tallying just two team fouls (both on Cody Zeller) and a couple turnovers. They even out-scored the Celtics when Butler sat for the first four-plus minutes of the second quarter and staked a lead.
But around the time Butler returned, Adebayo took a breather and Boston seized on Miami’s lack of rim protection. The Celtics ripped off a 15-3 run built entirely around ferocious rim attacks, starting with Tatum and Smart each drawing fouls en route to the basket on consecutive drives. After they went a combined 3-of-4 from the line, Tatum hit a layup, Horford cashed another and Brown flexed upon finishing an and-1 through contact with 4:47 left.
Adebayo re-entered and restored order to Miami’s defense, but the Celtics held steady 66-57 at halftime.
The Heat returned and ran and ran and ran. It didn’t matter the Celtics’ have a higher gear than Miami, more talent and weapons. The Heat want to drag this series into the muck, where they play cleaner basketball than virtually the rest of the league.
Brad Stevens knows and said as much pregame.
“The team we’re playing is the best, maybe in the league, at not beating themselves,” he said on NBC Sports Boston.
Boston should win. It has the star power. The depth. The long-range shooting balanced by Rob Williams’ rafter-scraping verticality.
The Eastern Conference Finals should be a series for stars. Instead, there was only Butler, as Tatum faltered and Celtics looked unprepared for Miami’s cleverness, pump-fakes and active hands on drives, getting stripped a half-dozen times in the first half alone.
The Celtics watched the Heat clobber the Knicks last round with this same formula. They scraped out more loose balls. They committed fewer turnovers. They feasted on mistakes.
What did they do? Let it happen all over again.