Key Moment
Miami’s Bam Adebayo may have had the most impactful presence on the court Friday night. When was on the bench, however, the Heat simply could not compete with the Boston Celtics.
Adebayo’s game-best plus-20 rating was all for naught, because the Heat were a minus-27 without him.
The tide of the game changed when Adebayo went to the sideline with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter after picking up his fourth foul. Miami had been leading 71-69 at that point, but after its starting center went to the bench, it was outscored 20-6 to close out the frame.
Jayson Tatum got the stretch started by making a technical free throw, then a running jumper, followed by a 3-pointer to give the C’s a four-point lead. The All-NBA wing scored eight points during the first two minutes of the run, while the last part of the run was all Grant Williams.
Williams made two 3-pointers in the final minute of the third to give the Celtics an 89-77 lead heading into the last frame.
Miami went on a small run when Adebayo returned in the fourth, but it could never get over the hump, as Boston grabbed a 111-104 win, moving to 2-0 on the season.
Key Player
On Opening Night, we had a rare instance of co-Key Players in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum after the duo poured in 35 points apiece in a 126-117 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
In Game 2, we almost found ourselves in a repeat scenario. This time, Brown and Tatum posted nearly identical stat lines across the board. JB finished with 28 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks in 34 minutes, while JT logged 29 points, five rebounds, four assists, one steal and two blocks in 37 minutes.
It’s hard to choose between the two, but we’re going to go with Tatum this time because he played a pivotal role down the stretch while Brown had to sit on the bench after getting into foul trouble.
Brown picked up his fifth personal with 5:44 remaining in the game with Boston holding onto a 100-93 lead. Miami never came closer than five points from the C’s, as Tatum scored six points in the final four minutes to keep them ahead.
The three-time All-Star helped the C’s keep their poise down the stretch while his star wing-mate was on the bench and for that reason, he gets the nod for Key Player.
Box Score Nuggets
- Jayson Tatum (29 points) and Jaylen Brown (28 points) paced the scoring for the second straight game.
- All eight Celtics who played 15-plus corralled at least four rebounds.
- Derrick White blocked as many shots (three) as the entire Heat team.
- White was one of five Celtics with multiple blocks.
- With a 51.9 percent clip, Celtics shot above 50 percent from the field for the second straight game.
- Boston went a perfect 15-for-15 from the free-throw line.
- Tyler Herro (25 points) was Miami's lone 20-point scorer.
- Bam Adebayo was a game-best plus-20 despite his team losing by seven points.
- Boston committed more than twice as many turnovers (19) than Miami (nine).
- This is Boston's first 2-0 start since the 2009-10 season.