Following a tough loss to the Pacers on Monday, the Celtics traveled to Florida to face the Miami Heat Thursday night at the Kaseya Center. Jaylen Brown returned to the lineup for Boston and scored 27
points as the Celtics bounced back on the road with a tremendous comeback 119-114. Boston snapped a two-game losing streak thanks to Anfernee Simons with an explosive second half of 39 points.
With JB back in the lineup, Boston started Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Neemias Queta, and Sam Hauser alongside the All-NBA forward. Andrew Wiggins opened the scoring for Miami with a three-pointer. Sam Hauser reeled off 4 consecutive points for Boston, but it was the Heat who started off as the hotter of the two teams with a massive early lead of 4-18 over Boston.
Miami was shooting 55% from the field early in the quarter, including 3 three-pointers, but Boston had 2 early turnovers and started off shooting an ice-cold 25% from the floor. Jordan Walsh and Anfenee Simons got some early minutes as JB eventually broke a three-and-a-half-minute scoring drought for the road team with a three-pointer.
Adebayo was feasting on the interior to start the game, as he singlehandedly had outscored Boston with 9 points in the first 6 minutes of game time. Andrew Wiggins had 8 quick points, Herro had 7 points, and Norman Powell hit the Heat’s fifth three for his 3 points to start the first quarter as the Heat had tripled Boston’s score, 9-27.
Anfernee Simons drained a three-pointer, and Jordan Walsh flashed an excellent pass to the interior to find Garza for a reverse layup, Boston chipping away at the Heat lead. Garza then scored a catch-and-shoot triple to cut it to twelve points as the C’s bench was coming up big for Boston following the disastrous early start to proceedings.
Simons hit a third three of the night, swishing it home with his high jump shot action; he was pacing things for Boston in the first quarter with 11 points. Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh double-teamed Tyler Herro and rejected his fast break layup attempt, Boston’s bench mob coming up big after one quarter, and Miami’s lead was trimmed to 11 points, 36-25. Boston outscored Miami 16-9 in the final 5 minutes of the first quarter.
Baylor Scheierman saw his first minutes starting the second quarter alongside Walsh, Simon, Brown, and Queta. The Miami Heat are second in the league in transition field goals, and they started the game with 8 fast break points to zero for Boston.
Queta had two big interior scores for Boston as the C’s were back within double digits at 8 points. In a fast-paced second quarter, Tyler Herro’s back-to-back three-pointers gave the Heat a 10-point lead, 36-46. Garza scored inside, and Hauser drained his first triple of the game, but Bam Adebayo was having a big game for Miami, working inside and stroking it from a distance; he had 15 points through two quarters.
DWhite hit a pair of free throws for Boston and on the next play laid off a neat bounce pass to Garza in the dunker spot; the bench big man had 11 points in the first half in a terrific performance for Boston. Jordan Walsh had a drop step back down in the lane over the shorter Powell and banked home the strong move. Sam Hauser ripped the nylon on his second triple to cut it to single digits; Miami was up at the half, 54-64.
Jaylen Brown opened the scoring for Boston in the second half with a step-back jumper. Brown hit a layup, and White chipped in 2 points on his own layup. Boston is down by 8. Payton Pritchard was scoreless in the first half but had 6 assists, and the Oregon native finally scored on a nifty Euro step through pass from Pelle Larson.
After his 35k fine for comments complaining about free throw discrepancy, JB had his first trip to the charity stripe and converted a pair for Boston. Neemias Queta was whistled for a fourth foul at the seven-minute mark of the third and had to sit out the remainder of the quarter.
Miami looked the fresher and faster of the two teams in the third, despite the Celtics having an extra day of rest. Miami kept the lead at around 11 for the bulk of the quarter. Brown was fouled on a three-point shot attempt by Adebayo. Luka Garza also fouled Fontecchio on his triple attempt, for his fourth, leaving Boston with two big men in foul trouble with a quarter to play.
Simons hit a tough runner in the lane and then had a step-back three-pointer right at the end of the third quarter, Miami hanging on to a ten-point lead, 83-93. Boston would need a massive effort to flip the script in the fourth quarter.
Hugo Gonzalez drove on the break and converted a swooping one-handed layup to start the fourth quarter, cutting Miami’s lead to 8. Anfernee Simons also converted on an up-and-under reverse, putting Boston back within 6 points. Simons split a double team and went high off glass to score again, Boston back within 4 points.
Coach Mazzulla stuck with Gonzalez and Simons, who gave the C’s a big spark in the fourth. White missed his third three of the night, Boston shooting just 28% from three for the game. Simons’s 28th point of the night came on a step-back triple; the Celtics were in the game, down by just 3 points. Simons was unstoppable for Boston; he hit a layup and then hit a turnaround jumper with the 24-second shot clock expiring as the score ticked over to 98-100, Miami, by just 2 points.
Joe Mazzulla had the luxury to reinsert Jaylen Brown with the Miami lead cut to just one possession. Simons found Hauser on a drawn-up play out of the timeout, and he swished a deep three for Boston’s first lead of the game, 101-100, with 5 minutes to go. Simons scored his seventh three of the game over rookie Kasparas Jakučionis. White blocked Powell at the summit down the defensive end and calmly sank a pair of free throws down the other end a play later to take a 109-105 lead.
Jakučionis kicked out his leg on Derrick White with 2 minutes to go, and JB scored in the lane to retake a four-point lead. Hauser tipped home a Luka Garza missed corner three as Boston took a six-point lead, 113-107. Boston hung on to take a massive comeback win on the road thanks to the stellar shot-making of Anfernee Simons, who had 39 points and seven made triples off the bench.
Boston will now have a day off and travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Saturday, 17th January, at 7:30pm EST.
