Celtics bounces off and the heat of game 2 heats up

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Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, and Marcus Smart beat the host country Miami Heat 127-102 on Thursday, scoring one win in the Eastern Conference final and smashing the Celtics with all their might.

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Smart recovered from a one-game miss due to a leg injury and contributed 24 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds and 3 steals in 40 minutes. Smart also created five three-pointers to help the Celtics take revenge on Game 1’s retreat.

Jaylen Brown scored 24 points and eight rebounds, while Grant Williams scored 19 points in Boston.

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Jimmy Butler led the heat with 29 points. Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo each added 14 points, and Tyler Herro scored 11 points in Miami.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Boston.

The Celtics were outscored 39-14 in the third quarter of Game 1 as an 8-point half-time lead turned into a 118-107 defeat. There was no such trouble this time.

Boston led 25 points in half-time, stopped the heat in the third quarter (26 points per one) and took a 96-71 lead in the fourth quarter.

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Smart filled in three pointers to push the lead to 103-73, leaving 9:55 when the Celtics continued to roll. Boston’s biggest lead was 34 points.

Al Horford (COVID-19 Protocol) also returned to the Celtics after missing Game 1 and scored 10 points in a 4-4 shot. Horford cleared the protocol hours before the chip off.

Miami lost PJ Tucker in the third quarter due to a left knee bruise. He had 5 points and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes before finishing.

The heat was also without Kyle Lowry (left hamstring) for the eighth time in the last 10 games.

The Celtics shot 51.2 percent from a field containing 20 of 40 from a range of 3 points. Tatum and Brown created four 3 pointers each.

Miami connected at 44.2 percent of that shot, 34 10 (29.4 percent) from behind the arc.

Boston made 12 out of 19 3-point attempts (63.2 percent) in the first half, building a 70-45 half-time lead. The Celtics led 29 people before the break.

The Boston onslaught occurred just four and a half minutes and ten minutes after the start of the match.

As the Celtics eventually took the lead of 32-21, Brown ejected three pointers with 3:44 remaining in the first period, starting a string of 17 straight points. Boston led 35-24 at the end of the quarter.

Williams’ layup was 68-39, with 1:16 remaining in the second quarter before Boston settled on a 25-point half-time cushion.