Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from stunning 98-95 loss to Miami Heat

On a back-to-back night the Boston Celtics lose to the Miami Heat 98-95.

The Boston Celtics came into this game short-handed as Marcus Smart (ankle), Jaylen Brown (right adductor injury management), and Al Horford (lower back stiffness) were out tonight. On the Miami Heat side, an hour before tipoff Jimmy Butler was ruled out with a lower back injury.

In the first quarter, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White were off to a hot start. White scored 13 points while shooting 4/5 from the floor, but since White was in foul trouble we didn’t see much of him in the first half. Tatum scored 13 points in the first quarter as well, and he finish the first half with 21 points. A Luke Kornet dunk extended the Celtics lead by eight, and they ended the first half on an 11-0 run.

It was a different story in the second half, as the Miami Heat were putting up a fight. Two Victor Oladipo 3-pointers and a Haywood Highsmith 3 took the lead down to five. Jayson Tatum ended the third quarter making two free throws which push the lead to seven (82-75).

In the fourth quarter, the Miami Heat took the lead, and they also went on a 15-0 run as well. Tatum ended the scoring drought and the Cs were down two points with 2:13 left in the fourth. In the final possession of the game, Tatum turned the ball over and the Cs lost the game.

Here are the three takeaways from Tuesday game.

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 1: Short handed cast couldn’t step up

The Celtics came into this game short-handed and didn’t help the role players weren’t able to step up in this game. Sam Hauser scored 0 points, and he went a combined 0-11 from the floor. Justin Jackson played for the first time in a Celtics uniform and he scored three points, and Luke Kornet scored seven points.

Payton Pritchard was named a starter in this game and he scored 10 points, but he had a poor shooting night.

The Celtics were asking a lot from some of these role players, which at times could be a recipe for disaster. Pritchard played 42 minutes, and in the fourth quarter when the Cs were on a scoring drought he scored 3 points and shot 1/5 from the 3-point line.

Even though Derrick White had a great game, he was the number two option for the Celtics. White ended up scoring 0 points in the fourth quarter.

I wouldn’t be too worried about this loss, as the Cs will get Jaylen Brown and Al Horford back for their next game.

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 2: Turnovers and rebounds didn’t help this team at all

This team has to clean it up on the offensive end because turning the ball over 17 times is unacceptable.

Tatum had seven turnovers, and in the final possession of the fourth quarter to tie the game he turn the ball over. It wasn’t a good night for him in terms of decision-making, but it was an all-around bad night for the team.

This team could get turnover-happy, and coach Joe Mazzulla has to figure out a way for this team to turn the ball over less.

One thing this team didn’t do as well was hustle for the rebounds. The Celtics got outrebounded by +7. The Celtics also gave up 14 offensive rebounds to the Miami Heat, and they ended up scoring 16 second chance points on those chances.

The Cs had no answer for Bam Adebayo as he grabbed 4 offensive rebounds, and he had a total of 15 rebounds and he scored 30 points in this game.

I know the Celtics were short-handed, but it’s still no excuse to not hustle for the rebound.

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 3: Jayson Tatum MVP season

I know Jayson Tatum had a costly turnover at the end, but he still played great in this game. Tatum scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Tatum was a three assists away from a triple-double.

This is Tatum’s 19 straight games where he scores 20+ points. This team can go as far as Tatum could take them, and the way that he is playing Tatum is going to take the Celtics back to the NBA finals.

Tatum has some tough competition in the MVP race with two times MVP Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic in the mix. If Tatum can keep playing at this level and leads the Cs to the best record in the NBA he could win the MVP.