Returning from a three-day break after a loss to the Pistons, the Boston Celtics (16-11) hosted a Miami Heat team (15-13) that lost five of its last six games on Friday night. The Celtics won their first matchup against the Heat, separating with a scorching fourth quarter shooting display for a 129-116 win.
On a night where Boston celebrated Isaiah Thomas for his 52-point game against the Heat nearly nine years ago, the Celtics were paced by Derrick White’s season-high 33 points. Jaylen Brown, who
entered the night on a five-game streak of scoring 30 points or more, finished with 30 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. The Heat were led by Kel’el Ware with 24 points.
Closing out a back-to-back, Miami was without Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson.
Neemias Queta got Boston going early, beating Kel’el Ware with a spin move and a left hook finish for an early 4 points. He later followed up a Jordan Walsh layup with a block on Jaime Jaquez.
After back-to-back threes from Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, the Celtics took a 14-8 lead, though a 9-0 Miami run pushed them ahead early. Boston broke that run with a Josh Minott steal-and-score, which would spark a 7-0 run of their own, and included another Minott pickpocket that led to a Hugo Gonzalez dunk and a 28-25 Celtics lead.
In the final seconds of the first quarter, Anfernee Simons got his first basket, slashing past Bam Adebayo for a layup with 11 seconds left, though a last-second Jaquez corner three cut Boston’s lead down to 30-29 entering the second quarter.
Behind 10-of-25 3-point shooting and an offensive rebounding edge of 11-4 in the first half, Miami opened up a lead that got as big as eight in the second quarter behind Ware’s 12 points.
The Celtics got strong efforts from White and Brown to keep it close, with Brown hitting his first two baskets of the game in the second quarter and White leading the team with 19 first-half points. White also had three blocks to go with five made threes.
Out of a timeout with 3:35 left in the half, Boston’s defense helped spark a 7-0 run in just over a minute, with two Miami possessions ending in blocked shots and another in a turnover, forcing a timeout after White tied the game with a catch-and-shoot three. In the final minute, White drilled another deep three, tying the game 58-58 entering halftime.
A go-ahead Pritchard 3-pointer opened the second half, but Miami continued to convert on its own looks from beyond the arc. The same can be said for White, who hit his sixth three of the night early in the quarter, taking the ball on a handoff and nailing an off-balance trey.
Despite Miami hitting four of its first six 3-pointers, Boston struck back with an 8-0 run featuring a Queta three-point play, a pair of Jaylen Brown free throws and a Simons three to temporarily give Boston the lead back. Behind Brown’s 15 third quarter points and 7-of-8 shooting from the line, along with White hitting his seventh three of the night with a minute to go, the Celtics took a slim 92-89 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Celtics got off to a hot start to the fourth quarter thanks to consecutive threes from Sam Hauser in the same spot on the left slot. His second three came on a fastbreak pull-up that was created by a Gonzalez steal. It lifted Boston to a 98-91 lead in the first minute of the quarter, forcing a quick Miami timeout. Miami would need another timeout less than two minutes later, when White and Simons buried back-to-back threes for a 104-94 Celtics lead with 9:35 to go.
The Celtics ultimately hit their first six 3-pointers, forcing Erik Spoelstra to revert to a timeout for a third time in the quarter’s first four minutes, this time after White banked in his ninth three and Hauser hit his fourth straight on a Queta handoff for a 110-96 lead.
The Celtics’ hot shooting extended throughout the entire fourth quarter, converting on 67% of those looks to lead by as many as 17 points. Hauser, who was coming off 0-for-11 3-point shooting in his last two games, hit on four of his five fourth quarter attempts to help Boston run away with its 16th win of the season.
Closing out a back-to-back on the road, the Celtics will travel to Scotiabank Arena Saturday night to take on the Toronto Raptors (17-11) for a second time this month. That game starts at 7:00 p.m.
