Celtics drop Game 2, fall behind Miami 2-0

No lead is safe, and third quarters are the stuff of painful video.

And Thursday night, the Celtics proved both character traits true in their 106-101 Game 2 loss to Miami, giving the Heat a 2-0 edge in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Kemba Walker responded with his best game since the first round with a 23-point performance, and it wasn’t enough. The Celtics, after leading by as many as 17 points and 13 at halftime, were undone by a 37-17 third-quarter run by the Heat.

Goran Dragic again scorched them, this time with 25 points, and Bam Adebayo tore them apart for the second straight game with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Jaylen Brown, working on a quiet 12-point night to this point, rebounded a Walker miss with 5:30 left and scored for an 89-89 tie. The Celtics then came out of a timeout with a late-clock dunk by Tatum.

Walker then buried a 3-pointer with 4:17 left for a 94-89 lead, only for the Heat to run off the next four points.

Brown drove, drew the foul and hit the second of two with 3:17 left for a 95-93 Celtics lead. Butler drove for the tie, Smart missed from 15 feet, and Walker drew a foul on Dragic with 2:21 left. The Miami point guard hit twice for a 97-95 Heat lead.

Walker missed a 3-pointer, and again late in the clock, Dragic hit from downtown for a five-point Miami lead with 1:32 left.

Butler stole a pass intended for Marcus Smart and fed Crowder off the break, with Brown cutting the Miami lead to 102-98 with 1:15 left. But Dragic, with his 25th point, buried a 3-pointer.

Brown answered again with a 3-pointer, cutting the Miami edge to 104-101. Butler lost the ball on the next possession, with the Celtics taking possession with 23.6 seconds left.

This time Brown missed from the left corner, and Butler gave Miami a four-point lead from the line.

The Celtics have been a hideous third quarter team, and Thursday’s 37-17 Miami run in that stretch was especially damaging, turning the Celtics’ 60-47 halftime lead into an 84-77 Miami edge.

The Celtics, yet again, had let up coming out of the break, and Adebayo in particular took advantage in the paint. He had 19 points and seven rebounds at the start of the fourth.

Jae Crowder hit his third trey early in the fourth for an 87-79 Miami lead, and after the Celtics cut that margin to 87-80, Tatum shot 2-for-3 from the line after getting fouled attempting a 3-pointer.

Brown, quiet to this point, cut the Miami lead to three points with eight minutes left, only for Dragic to answer in the paint.

Walker checked in and immediately buried a 3-pointer that cut the Miami lead to two points. The Celtics forced a shot clock violation down the other end, and blew a chance when Brown lost a pass out of bounds on the baseline.

Smart drew a charge on Herro with 6:25 left, Walker missed from 10 feet, and Theis pressured Adebayo into a post-up miss.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2RG2ip6