Behind another Tatum masterclass, Boston Celtics blow out Miami 103-85

Coming off of a dominating win over the New York Knicks, the Celtics took a trip down to South Beach for a matchup against the Miami Heat. Boston would beat Miami pretty handedly by a score of 103-85.

For the second game in a row, Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics with a dominant performance of 33 points and 8 rebounds on 13-26 shooting. Kristaps Porzingis pitched in with 17 points and 9 rebounds of his own while Al Horford turned back the clock with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.

With Tyler Herro out, Boston’s defense suffocated Miami, holding the Heat to 34% shooting from the field and 24% shooting from three. The Celtics offense was cold to start but once the second quarter, the Heat could not slow them down.

On the three year anniversary of the Derrick White trade, it felt fitting that White scored the Celtics first points of the game with two free throws. Without JaBoston’s offense was cold early as they started the game shooting 2-13 from the field (1-10 from three).

Miami capitalized on Boston’s cold stretch by going on a 14-4 run to open up a double digit lead early as Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 9 points on 4-9 shooting.

With 2:37 left in the first half, Baylor Scheierman checked into the game to try and inject some energy in the Celtics offense. Boston was able to hit a few shots to end the quarter on a 9-2 run but still trailed Miami 24-18 at the end of the first quarter. The Celtics shooting was their downfall in the first quarter, shooting 6-25 from the field and 2-18 from three.

The Celtics energy completely shifted to open the second quarter as they opened on a 13-0 run. Boston completely stifled Miami on defense as the Heat went over six minutes without scoring a basket. Sam Hauser was the main catalyst for the Celtics offense as he lit up the Heat from beyond the arc, hitting 4 of his 5 first half threes in the second quarter alone.

Once Hauser went to the bench, it was Jayson Tatum’s turn to cook. After not making a shot in the first quarter, Tatum went on a 7-0 run by himself as the Celtics continued to dominate the Heat. Although Miami went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter, Boston still held a 52-43 lead going into the half.

From the 1:15 mark of the first quarter to the end of the second quarter, the Celtics went on a 39-19 run. After an awful first quarter shooting, the Celtics shot 12-20 from the field and 7-14 from three in the second quarter, completely flipping the momentum of the game.

Sam Hauser ended the first half as the leading scorer for the Celtics with 15 points on 5-8 shooting from three and Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 16 points on 5-11 shooting. Payton Pritchard also had a big first half, with a stat line of 5 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.

The Celtics cold shooting returned to start the third quarter but back to back Al Horford buckets got Boston back on track. Horford scored 8 points in the third quarter alone to fuel a 16-5 Celtics run.

With Boston finding their groove, it was Jayson Tatum’s time to take over in the third quarter once again. Tatum went off for 20 points in the third quarter alone, embarrassing the Heat’s defense and with a Derrick White buzzer beater, the Celtics took an 88-65 lead.

The Celtics shot even better in the third quarter than they did in the second quarter, shooting 14-21 (66.7%) from the field and 7-13 (53.8%) from three. Boston dominated every facet of the game in the third quarter and Miami had no answers.

Even with Boston not getting off to a great start to the fourth quarter, Miami had no shooting what so ever and couldn’t capitalize. The Celtics just killed the clock in the fourth quarter and with another tough bucket by Jayson Tatum, Boston put in the stay ready group with 2:39 left to wrap up the ball game.

The Celtics next game is at home on Wednesday February 12th against the San Antonio Spurs at 7pm.