By Miguel Mike Medina
Miami Heat stole the home court from the Boston Celtics with a 123-116 victory in Game 1. It was a collective team effort by the Heat. Boston’s Achilles heel was their turnovers and lack of urgency. This is the second consecutive series when Boston loses Game 1 on their home court.
Kyle Lowry kept Miami in the game in the first half. He had 15 points off the bench. Boston had a big second quarter. They went on a 15-2 run, and their offense clicked. Celtics led by nine by halftime. In the third quarter, everything changed. Miami played an outstanding third quarter. They outscored Boston 46-25, which marked the highest playoff scoring quarter in Miami Heat history.
In the fourth quarter, it was the Jimmy Butler show. He’s a superstar for a reason. A superstar takes over the game, whether he is scoring or facilitating, or playing defense. Jimmy did all three of those. He is an unbelievable player. My favorite moment of Jimmy Butler is when he hit that dagger three-pointer to make it 120-110. After he hit that shot, he looked at his bench and winked at them. Butler finishes the game with 35 points, seven assists, five rebounds, and a player career-high six steals. Bam Adebayo added 20 points with eight rebounds. Strus, Vincent, and Martin had 15 points each.
Miami shot the ball well as a team. They shot 54% from the field, 16-of-31 from the three-point line.
Game 2 will be on Friday night, as Miami is trying to return to South Beach with a 2-0 lead.
