Eddie Jones scored 23 points and Brain Grant added 18 and 12 rebounds as the Heat recorded their first winning streak of the season with an 89-66 victory over the Boston Celtics, who were held to the second-lowest total in team history.
Miami has been among the NBA elite in recent seasons due its defense. The Heat had won just five of their first 28 games before winning in Indiana on Monday and stifling the explosive Celtics.
 Alonzo Mourning ventures from the paint against the Celtics. Jesse D. Garrabrant NBAE/Getty Images |
Boston shot a season-low 29 percent (22-of-77) from the field and made only 4-of-17 3-pointers, its worst performance since making 35-of-121 shots on October 20, 1973.
The Celtics barely eclipsed the lowest output in franchise history, a 62-point effort in a win over the Milwaukee Hawks on February 27, 1955, the first season of the shot clock.
"We got absolutely pounded by a team that I think is going to be a very good basketball team down the stretch," Boston coach Jim O'Brien said. "We never gave ourselves a chance. They had an answer for everything we did. They beat us every way they could."
Paul Pierce, the league's second-leading scorer, scored 20 points but made only 5-of-19 shots. Antoine Walker, who is ninth in scoring, was held to 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
"It's not an easy thing to do but you have to be disciplined," Grant said. "When you're not disciplined against two superstars like that they're going to come out and they're going to get 60-plus points between the two of them."
Kenny Anderson scored 10 points and was the only other player in double figures for Boston, which had a seven-game home winning streak snapped.
"So far this season we've outhustled and outscraped our opponents and tonight it was reversed," Anderson said. "It hasn't happened too many times this year, but it happened tonight. It's a tough pill to swallow, but you swallow it and move on."
Grant scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first quarter, when Miami held Boston to 21 percent (4-of-19) and jumped out to a 23-13 lead.
"It was disappointing that we didn't come out ready to play," Pierce said. "As we missed shots, it seemed like we got down on ourselves and it sort of discouraged us and took us out of our flow.
Anderson opened the second quarter with a pair of free throws, but Eddie House followed with a 3-pointer to give the Heat a double-digit lead for good.
The Celtics made only 5-of-21 shots in the second quarter and trailed, 44-27, at halftime. They made 8-of-18 shots in the third period and just 5-of-19 in the final 12 minutes.
Miami shot 47 percent (36-of-76) and held a 55-38 rebounding advantage. The Heat also recorded 23 assists, led by Grant and Rod Strickland, who handed out six apiece.
"We're really sharing the basketball," Jones said. "Everybody's making the extra pass. We've just been working our butts off to make games easier for us."
Alonzo Mourning had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for the Heat, who had not won consecutive games since April 17-18 of last season.
"We've got a bunch of veterans on this team," Mourning said. "It's just a matter of us putting all that experience in a pot and mixing it together. I think that time dictates that, it just doesn't happen overnight."