The Miami Heat extend their losing streak to five straight as they fall hard to the Boston Celtics inside the Kaseya Center, 143-110. This was the second meeting with the Eastern Conference rival as it brings the opposing team to 2-0 in the regular season with one more coming up on Feb. 11.
Miami continues to arguably play their worst basketball of the season and it has been shown in this back-to-back where they had an ugly loss to the depleted Memphis Grizzlies the night before. One could blame the defeat on the fatigue from the contest prior, but it is a disappointing outing nonetheless.
Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo both had 19 points, Jimmy Butler had 17, and Haywood Highsmith had 14. Terry Rozier made his way into the starting lineup for the first time against his former team, but only had seven. Jayson Tatum led Boston with 26 points, Kristaps Porzingis left the game early but still had 19, and Jaylen Brown had 18.
Here are three takeaways from the Heat's loss to the Celtics as we look through each half:
Celtics slammed their foot on the gas pedal against the Heat in first half
It really didn't matter what happened in the first quarter, the Celtics weren't missing as they had a whopping 42 point quarter led by Porzingis who had 14 points and the duo of Tatum, Brown who had eight. Funny enough, the Heat had 29 points in the quarter which isn't the worst considering the scoring slump they have been in.
Boston though was lethal from three-point range as they were shooting 71.4 percent from the field and made six of their 11 attempts from beyond the arc. Compared to Miami, they made 50 percent of their shots from the field and once again struggled from deep as they only made three of their 11 shots. At this point, the Heat is hoping the Celtics run out of gas.
In the second period, the Heat had a 35 point total which compared to past games, this should be seen as a success. However, Boston wouldn't slow down much matching the home team with 35 as Miami was trying their best to dwindle their deficit.
On the bright side, the Heat were much better from deep as they made four of their five shot attempts on top of shooting 58.3 percent from the field. In many ways, this was a much more frustrating quarter than the first as there were many spots where Miami were building for some type of run that would be stifled by Boston's inability to slow down as they led by 13 at halftime.
Going into the second half, the Heat really needs their stars to show out if they want any shot of beating the team with the best record in the league. In the first 24 minutes, Herro has 10 points, Butler and Adebayo with 9, and Rozier with seven.
Miami overwhelmed by Boston
The third period has shown how outmatched the Heat are against the Celtics at this point of time. One team is hitting their stride and one is in the other direction. I'm sure you can guess which team is which. Tatum shined in this period with 12 points to go along with Jrue Holiday who had 11.
Boston kept up with their pace as they scored 35 points, but Miami had their worst offensive quarter thus far with 26. As Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and other players have been saying in the losing streak, this team doesn't look like themselves as they are playing in uncharacteristic ways.
One could argue that nothing changed in the fourth quarter. Actually, if anything, it was worse as the Celtics continued to overwhelm the Heat forcing them to throw the towel and play deep into their roster.
Boston got their lick back and then some after they lost to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals last season. Looking at the Heat though, it still is very concerning as the team was outmatches, undersized, and never once made it a competition.
In total, the Celtics shot 55 percent (22-40) from three and 63.7 percent from the field. More often that not, you're going to lose when facing a team with those statistics.
Schedule ahead in dire times
Miami will look for any winning opportunity they can get after losing five straight where their next opponent will be another rival in the New York Knicks on Saturday. The opposite of the Heat, the Knicks have won five straight where their last victory was against the reigning champions in the Denver Nuggets.
Even with the scheduling that was decided before the season, the momentum does not favor them, further proving that everything is not going their way. After New York, they come back home to take on the Phoenix Suns who have won seven straight.
Seeing a pattern? It's safe to say that the Heat are in for a rough couple of games on top of their current struggles. For fans, they are hoping that Miami can turn the corner at some point and pull a run together. They desperately need it.
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