The Celtics have a series.
The Miami Heat used Boston’s 3-point-parade approach against their heavily favored hosts Wednesday night, winning 111-101 at TD Garden to even the first-round playoff series at one game apiece.
Miami went 23-for-43 (53.5%) from deep in the win, far exceeding its regular-season average of 37.0%. The top-seeded Celtics, who tied a franchise playoff record with 22 made threes in a 20-point Game 1 rout, were 12-for-32 from three (37.5%).
The Heat will host the next two games of the best-of-seven series at the Kaseya Center. Tipoff for Game 3 is set for 6 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 33 points Wednesday night, including 21 in the first half. Jayson Tatum scored 28 points, and Derrick White had 13, with nine coming during an ill-fated fourth-quarter comeback bid.
Tyler Herro shook off Sunday’s rough shooting performance to lead the Heat with 24 points (6-for-11 from three). Bam Adebayo and Game 1 villain Caleb Martin each added 21 points for Miami, which again played without starters Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck).
A shift in Miami’s strategy was evident from the opening tip. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said his team needed to narrow the 3-point shooting gap after being outscored by 30 points from beyond the arc in Game 1. And boy, did they.
Fifteen of the 19 shots Miami attempted in the first quarter were from 3-point range, and it made 53.3% of them to Boston’s 25.0% (2 of 8). The Celtics trailed by just a point at the end of one, however, 28-27.
Miami was more competitive in the opening minutes than it was in Game 1, when Boston bolted out to a 14-0 lead, but it still struggled to contain the Celtics’ best player. Tatum scored 10 points before the midway point of the first quarter, including two 3-pointers and an emphatic alley-oop dunk off a White steal. He finished the opening frame with an efficient 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
An evenly matched second quarter culminated in a surge of scoring from Boston’s other headliner. Brown scored the Celtics’ final 11 points of the half — including threes on three consecutive possessions — to give his squad a 61-58 halftime lead. Brown also effectively attacked the basket for driving layups.
The Heat maintained their collective hot hand from three, though, and controlled much of the third quarter, leading by as many as 12 after a 10-0 run and a nearly four-minute Celtics scoring drought. Reserve wing Sam Hauser snapped that with a 3-pointer, and Tatum added two dunks and a pair of free throws to close out the quarter with Boston down 85-79.
Some clutch shots from White in the fourth kept the Celtics in striking distance, but Miami’s lead never dropped below six points in the final frame.
It was an ugly outing for Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, who was decisively outplayed by Adebayo. Porzingis shot an ugly 1-for-9 from the field and finished with six points, seven rebounds and a minus-32 rating in 30 minutes.
Payton Pritchard also struggled with no points and four fouls in 19 minutes off Boston’s bench. Celtics reserves Pritchard, Hauser and Al Horford combined for just 12 points after scoring 30 in the series opener.
Members of both teams downplayed the defining play of Game 1 — Martin’s dangerous foul on Tatum in the final minute — but Celtics fans didn’t forget it. Martin was loudly booed each time the Heat forward touched the ball, and the Garden crowd roared when he bricked an early jumper.
Undeterred by the jeers, Martin hit 5 of 6 3-pointers in a performance reminiscent of last year’s Eastern Conference finals.