Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from last-second win over Miami Heat

The Boston Celtics are now winners of three straight after their last-second victory over the Miami Heat. Today, the Houdini presents 3 takeaways from the outing.

A dark day such as January 6th (in terms of current events) managed to end with somewhat of a bright spot for Boston Celtics fans, as the team managed to scrape away an exhilarating victory over the defending Eastern Conference Champions, the Miami Heat, to the tune of 107-105.

Though some may have viewed the start to the 2020-21 season as a bit of a disappointment for the shamrocks, with last night’s victory they now find themselves in the midst of a three-game win-streak and, in turn, stand pat in the fourth seed in the east’s standings with a record of 6-3.

There were many key takeaways for Boston from the outing, but the Houdini deems 3 in specific that stand out the most:

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 1) Second-half woes continue to haunt Cs

Going into the half, the Boston Celtics found themselves up 53-45, while also leading the Miami Heat in virtually every statistical category.

However, like has been the case seemingly since the 2020 NBA bubble, their second-half performance was not as successful, as they were outscored 60 to 54, while also coming away with the shorter end of the stick in terms of the majority of statistical categories (field-goal percentage, rebounds, plus-minus, etc.)

Perhaps the most troubling aspects to this second-half collapse was during the third quarter, as they were outscored 35 to 27 as well as in the final minute of the fourth quarter, where the Cs managed to squander a 10-point lead.

Had it not been for three missed wide-open 3-pointers from the Heat, this game could have easily been lost thanks to their continued struggles in the final two quarters.

Moving forward, they must figure out how to better carry over success into the second half.