Celtics fall to Miami, 129-121

They began the night with a slim chance of escaping the NBA’s play-in tournament, and finished it with the near certainty of having to survive the hard way.

The Celtics once again let Miami’s shooters repeatedly find daylight in their 129-121 loss to the Heat, which dropped them to three games behind the sixth place Heat, who shot 16-for-30 from downtown in their latest Garden torching.

With Jaylen Brown out for the season with impending wrist surgery, and Rob Williams still out with turf toe, the Celtics now look like a thin team — too thin for a deep post-season.

Miami was forced to finish without Jimmy Butler, who was inadvertently poked in the eye by Marcus Smart during a fight for a loose ball in the third quarter, but Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo, both with 22 points, made them pay from outside and in the paint.

Kemba Walker, who is playing his best basketball of the season, sprung for 36 points, marking his fourth 30-plus performance in his last six games. Jayson Tatum started hot and scored 14 of his 33 in the fourth.

But Robinson had eight points in a 17-4 run that staked the Heat to a 93-79 lead, including a corner three that was so unguarded, the nearest Celtic was roughly 15 feet away.

And when Miami opened the fourth with four treys in the first three minutes — three of them from the previously unheard-from Goran Dragic — Miami had opened up a peak lead of 105-84. The Celtics, who had been losing Robinson in particular all night, were once again dying by the other side’s long ball.

The Celtics finally responded with an 11-2 run that cut the Miami lead to 111-99, though Tyler Herro interjected with Miami’s 15th 3-pointer of the night.

Tatum came back with four straight points, cutting the cushion to 114-103, Kendrick Nunn sandwiched a pair of hoops around an Evan Fournier 3-pointer, and when Smart lost the ball, Dragic buried a 3-point dagger for a 121-106 Miami lead with 2:53 left.

Back-to-back hoops from Tatum cut the Miami lead to 121-110, but Dragic scored again. Tatum answered from downtown, and Walker drove for a three-point play, but the Celtics were now running out of time.

It’s possible the same could be said of their season.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3hgWYqj