The Summer Celtics opened up play Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas with an 88-78 loss to the Miami Heat.
Amid the defeat, Boston received strong performances from a trio of players, including 2021 second-round pick Juhann Begarin.
Begarin, who played last season for Paris Basketball of the French LNB Pro A league, finished the afternoon with 13 points and six rebounds. He started and attacked the basket at a higher rate than any player in the game, finishing with nine free throw makes on 10 attempts, both of which were game highs. He also threw down a loud, one-handed alley-oop during the third quarter of the contest to bring Boston’s fans to their feet.
Matt Ryan, who played last season on a two-way deal with Boston, led the team in scoring with 15 points. He connected on four of his eight 3-pointers on the day, which trailed only Mychal Mulder’s game-high five makes from beyond the arc for Miami.
Boston’s starting center, Mifondu Kabengele, also put forth a strong effort. He tallied 14 points on only seven shot attempts to go along with six rebounds and three assists.
The Celtics jumped out of the gates to a 9-0 lead behind Brodric Thomas’ five points, and two apiece from Begarin and Kabengele. Miami, however, answered quickly to even the game up at 9-9.
The contest remained tight until late in the second quarter, when the score was knotted up at 45-45 with 2:46 left on the clock. Miami then strung together a 12-4 run to close out the half behind five points from Marcus Garrett, four from Orlando Robinson, and three from Haywood Highsmith.
The Heat maintained a lead for the remainder of the contest, pulling ahead by as many as 18 points before closing out an 88-78 victory.
Boston gets a day off Sunday before returning to action Monday night at 8 p.m. ET against the Milwaukee Bucks.