SUMMARY
- The Miami Heat just tied the series against the Boston Celtics 1-1.
- Tyler Herro was the star of the night, with 24 points, 14 assists, and 5 rebounds.
The Miami Heat just beat the Boston Celtics 101-111 to tie the series 1-1. It’s not every day that we see the Celtics lose at the TD Garden, and the Heat have managed to do it all without their star player, Jimmy Butler. He is currently on the sidelines with an indefinite return date after suffering an MCL strain while playing against the Philadelphia 76ers in the play-in.
The Miami Heat come into Boston and SHOCK the Celtics to tie the series at 1-1 🔥
Tyler Herro: 24 PTS, 14 AST, 6-of-11 3PT
Bam Adebayo: 21 PTS, 10 REB, 2 AST
Caleb Martin: 21 PTS, 5-of-6 3PT pic.twitter.com/TnpvDy8cnk— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 25, 2024
The odds were in the Celtics’ even when the Heat had Butler in the lineup. The main reason for that would be the 17x champions’ record in the regular season. They held the best record (64-18) and ended the regular season with the best home record (37-4). Interestingly, they lost to the Heat at home as well. Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, and Bam Adebayo were the standout players for the Heat, as they continue to step up in Butler’s absence.
Tyler Herro reveals Jimmy Butler’s advice before the Miami Heat-Boston Celtics series
The Heat star mentioned that Butler texted him before the Heat-Celtics series. He said, “JB texted me to, take the team, and lead these guys. Just make every right play, it’s not all about scoring. In the playoffs, you gotta make the right play, my guy showed up tonight, Caleb Martin, Nikola [Jovic], everybody, Jaime [Jaquez Jr] doing his thing as well. Everybody came to play. We lost bad game one, and everybody responded, and that’s all you can ask for from a group of guys.”
“Before the series [Jimmy Butler] texted me to take the team and lead these guys… Everybody came to play. We lost bad in Game 1 and everyone responded.”
Tyler Herro after the Heat’s Game 2 road win 🔥
(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/XhJLBpWBh4
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 25, 2024
In addition to that, Herro was asked about the fact that the Heat were the underdogs of the series. The player had mentioned earlier that the franchise preferred it that way and it’s not a huge surprise that they aim to break down the expectations of NBA fans.
Now, he said that even without mentioning the 2023 performance from the Heat to defeat the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, the team is still looking to do the same. Despite not having their squad at full strength, the Heat seem to be in high spirits while going against one of the best teams in the NBA.
The Boston Celtics superstars have a quiet night at TD Garden
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown did their thing as usual, making 28 and 33 points respectively. The players that had a rather quiet night would be Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis. The duo only managed to score 6 and 9 points. That speaks at length about the Celtics’ shooting woes.
The Heat had a much better shooting percentage, going for 37-75 than the Celtics’ 37-80. Their three-point success helped them to bag the win too, when they shot 23-43 from the 3PT line, while the C’s only shot 12-32. That was the biggest difference between the two sides, where the Heat made their shots count.
The Celtics will be gunning for revenge now that the Heat have answered back. They will be traveling to Miami to face their opponents, and we all know about the atmosphere in the Kaseya Center. It will be interesting to see if the Celtics can make it 2-1 at Miami’s home.