In-form Miami Heats blow-off Boston Celtics in the second game of the series, 106-101 on Thursday Night. Celtics guard Marcus Smart was yelling at his teammates in the locker room before leaving the room swearing, according to ESPN’s Malika Andrews.
But even after that, the Celtics managed to stabilize themselves once again. And after going on a 15-2 run, Boston took a 94-89 lead with 4:25 remaining when Walker buried a 3-pointer, and it appeared the Celtics might be able to survive their disastrous third quarter.
Only just when it seemed the Celtics had things squared away, they quickly fell apart again. Miami closed the game with a 17-7 run, including nine straight to go from trailing by two to leading by seven with just over a minute to go.
In order to get ready for the next one, the Celtics will have to figure out what happened to them in the fourth quarter of game 1 and the third quarter of game 2 — both of which saw Boston cough up double-digit leads (14 points in Game 1, and 15 in game 2). Boston was outscored 37-17 in the third quarter Thursday night, disintegrating in a hail of missed shots and ugly turnovers.
And while the Celtics managed to get back within shouting distance thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Brown, his potential game-tying triple from the corner in front of Miami’s bench with 15.1 seconds remaining was long, and Jimmy Butler hit a pair of free throws to ice the game for the Heat.
OJB SPORT 