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Heat Overcome Slow Start, Beat Celtics as Butler Scores 41 Points

There are some players who have been deemed "Bubble All-Stars" because they played so much better in the NBA's Orlando "bubble" after COVID-19 struck in 2020 than they did before or after, but anyone who would dare put Jimmy Butler in that category is committing basketball heresy. Butler led the Miami Heat in scoring (41 points), rebounding (nine rebounds), assists (five), and steals (four) as the Heat came from 13 points behind to beat the Boston Celtics 118-107 in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. Butler shot 12-19 from the field and 17-18 from the free throw line. He also had three blocked shots, including a spectacular rejection of a Jayson Tatum corner three pointer. Butler's 41-9-5-4-3 stat line is obviously very good, but it is a bit surprising to realize that since the NBA began tracking steals and blocked shots in 1973-74 only five other players have matched all of those numbers in the same game, and no one had previously accomplished this in the playoffs.

Tyler Herro finished second in scoring (18 points) and rebounding (eight rebounds) for the Heat in one of his better performances of the 2022 playoffs. Gabe Vincent scored 17 points while starting in place of injured All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry. The Heat played with great collective energy and effort, but make no mistake that Butler led the way at both ends of the court. 

Jayson Tatum scored a team-high 29 points while also contributing eight rebounds and six assists, but he had seven turnovers, and he scored just eight second half points on 1-7 field goal shooting. Jaylen Brown added 24 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Robert Williams III and Payton Pritchard scored 18 points each. Boston played without two starters: Al Horford missed the game because he is in health and safety protocols for COVID-19, while 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart is nursing a foot injury that he reportedly suffered during the Celtics' game seven victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Horford and Smart represent at least 60 minutes of playing time that had to be distributed to other players, which has a ripple effect throughout the roster, not to mention that both players have skill sets that their replacements simply cannot match. "Next man up" sounds great, but the reality is that the hierarchy within each team exists for good reasons: if bench players were good enough to start then they would be starting, and if players who rarely play except for blowouts were good enough to be in the regular rotation then they would be in the regular rotation. Injuries are part of the game, but it is unfortunate that injuries to key players have been a factor in several series this year, and it is particularly unfortunate for injuries to be a factor in a series that will decide which Eastern Conference team plays in the NBA Finals. That is not meant to take anything away from the Heat, who had a very good game plan that they executed at a high level.

In the first half, it may have looked like the Celtics did not miss Horford and Smart very much, but that is fool's gold; during a 48 minute game it is difficult to overcome the absence of two of the team's top players. The Celtics led by as much as 13 points in the first half, and they were up 62-54 at halftime. Tatum scored 21 first half points, the most that he has ever scored in the first half of a playoff game. However, any notion that the Celtics could survive--let alone thrive--shorthanded vanished in a flurry of turnovers and missed shots as the Celtics shot just 2-15 from the field and committed eight turnovers in a nightmarish third quarter. Tatum scored five points, shot 0-2 from the field, and committed six turnovers. Butler scored more points (17) than the entire Celtics team, and when the dust settled the Heat won that stanza 39-14 to build a 93-76 lead that was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

The Celtics won the other three quarters, but the NBA does not use the old CBA scoring system in which teams received standing points for each quarter won. Horford will almost certainly miss game two, and Smart's status for game two has not yet been released, so the Celtics will need to find some answers that do not include those two key players. One answer is to cut down on the careless turnovers; the Heat are a great defensive team, but the Celtics also committed unforced errors (to borrow a tennis term). Another answer is to commit fewer fouls, and thus force the Heat to score from the field as opposed to the free throw line. During this game, we saw extended periods when the Celtics looked at least as good--if not better than--the Heat, so I would not say that hope is lost, but game two is a must win, because comebacks from 2-0 deficits are rare (even though the Mavericks just accomplished this versus the Phoenix Suns, a team led by Chris Paul, the "king" of allowing 2-0 comebacks).

Labels: Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat, Tyler Herro

posted by David Friedman @ 1:28 AM

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