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Key Moment
When the Celtics acquired Kyrie Irving, they acquired a closer. He shut the door on the Heat Saturday night in Miami.
Boston had led by as many as 11 points during the second half but its lead was whittled down to two with 1:53 left on the clock. That’s when Irving took over.
First, he dropped in a beautiful, driving reverse layup off the glass with 1:38 remaining in the game to double his team’s lead to four. Then, with less than a minute left on the clock, Irving drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to push the lead up to seven. He tacked on two free throws with 21 seconds left to officially close the door on the Heat while pushing the Celtics to their fourth straight win, 96-90 over the Heat..
All in all, Irving scored seven straight for the C’s from the 2:02 mark of the fourth to the 57-second mark.
Key Player
Jayson Tatum is really, really good. Saturday night was our most recent reminder of such.
Tatum continued his impressive stretch of play to begin his NBA career by scoring 20 points Saturday night in Miami. The performance marked the second time in three games that the rookie forward has scored 20 or more points.
What was most impressive about his performance was his efficiency. He needed only nine shot attempts to accrue his 20 points, as he connected on six of them, including a 2-for-2 effort from long distance. Tatum also made six of his seven free throw attempts.
The majority of Tatum’s work was done inside the paint, where he made four of his six field goals. He also pitched in five rebounds and did not commit a turnover during his 31-plus minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 24 points.
- Goran Dragic led the Heat with 22 points.
- Boston totaled only 14 assists in the game.
- Both teams scored four fast break points and 44 points in the paint.
- Aron Bayned blocked a game-high four shots, .
- Kelly Olynyk came off Miami's bench to score 14 points against his former team.
- Al Horford led Boston with nine rebounds, and he also scored 12 points.
- Justise Winslow pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds.
- No player in the game dished out more than four assists.
- Jayson Tatum scored 20 points for Boston.
- Off the bench, Marcus Smart tallied a season-high 16 pointsto go along with four rebounds, a team-best four assists and two steals.
Quote of the Night
Jayson Tatum on Kyrie Irving taking over down the stretch.