The Miami Heat on Wednesday unleashed a barrage of three-pointers to score a series-leveling 111-101 upset over the top-seeded Boston Celtics in their NBA Eastern Conference playoff duel.
Eighth seeds Miami, playing without the injured Jimmy Butler, produced a battling performance to knot the best-of-seven-series at 1-1 as the teams head back to Florida for Game 3 tomorrow.
Tyler Herro led the Miami scoring with 24 points, part of a balanced offensive effort that saw all five Heat starters post double-digit points.
Photo: Alonzo Adams-USA Today
However, the key to the Miami victory was their accuracy from long range, with the Heat draining 23 three-pointers from 43 attempts compared with Boston’s 12 of 32.
Herro knocked down six threes, while Caleb Martin added five in his tally of 21 points. Bam Adebayo also finished with 21 points, while Jaime Jaquez Jr added 14 and Nikola Jovic 11.
Boston were led by 33 points from Jaylen Brown, with Jayson Tatum finishing with 28.
Photo: AFP
The win was all the more unexpected given Miami’s 20-point drubbing by Boston in Game 1 on Sunday — something that Herro said had motivated the Heat for Game 2.
“We lost badly in Game 1 and everybody responded tonight, and that’s all you can ask for from a group of guys,” Herro said afterward.
In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder took a commanding 2-0 lead in their first-round series against the New Orleans Pelicans with an emphatic 124-92 thrashing.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the scoring for Oklahoma City, finishing with 33 points from 13-of-19 shooting from the field.
Gilgeous-Alexander said that the Thunder remained focused instead of worrying about outside issues such as other highly seeded teams struggling at home.
“I think it just goes back to us prioritizing winning,” he said. “And all those things are distractions that get in the way of winning. And every night, all 15 of us go to bed and want to win the next game, want to win the next day. And we do everything we can to do so.”
Chet Holmgren had 26 points and seven rebounds, while Jalen Williams added 21 points for the Thunder.
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