Heat take 2-game series lead as Boston chokes late, losing 106-101

The Boston Celtics fell into dangerous territory as they lost Game 2 to the Heat 106-101, Miami taking a two-game series lead.

The Boston Celtics began Game 2 trailing in a postseason series for the first time in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, having dropped Game 1 to the Miami Heat in overtime.

That was clearly not a status they wanted to continue with for long with Boston winning the tip and Kemba Walker drilling a 3 just seconds into the game.

The game stayed close early, the two teams trading buckets throughout most of the first quarter. Walker stuck another trey midway through the frame, which featured a rare substitution of Enes Kanter and Romeo Langford off the bench.

The Celtics started to pull away in the second quarter as Kanter and Tatum began to heat up, a Brad Wanamaker 3-pointer at the nine-minute Mark putting Boston up seven, and another extended the lead to 43-33.

Walker erupted for eight points in just two minutes to push the lead to 15, showing no signs of the difficulty he had in Game 1, while Jaylen Brown started to get on the board as well as the first half began to wind down.

Miami’s Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler scored in the half’s final minute to cut the lead to 13, sending the Celtics into the break carrying a 60-47 lead.

Boston began the third with Daniel Theis and Bam Adebayo trading makes, and a Marcus Smart layup would put the Celtics up 64-49 with just under 11 minutes to go in the frame. Dragic got hit in the face on a play soon after while he fouled Tatum, the Heat unsuccessfully challenging.

Boston called a timeout after Walker was inadvertently clipped by Smart on a screen, who was just shaken up a bit. Jae Crowder was fouled on a 3 by Brown to cut the lead to six, forcing another Boston timeout.

A pair of Adebayo Dunks cut the lead to one, and another make gave the Heat their first lead since early in the second. A Walker make stopped the bleeding, but a 3 from Kelly Olynyk and a layup by Dragic sent the Heat into the final frame up 84-77.

The final frame began with a quick timeout as Stevens successfully challenged a play that went out of bounds before Olynyk fouled Brown, who converted both. Crowder hit back immediately with a 3 to push the lead to 87-79, but Tatum erased most of it from the line a few plays later.

A layup by Brown with cut the lead to three, and a stepback trey from Walker cut it to 89-87 with just over seven minutes to go. Brown would tie it at 89 to force a Miami timeout with 5:30 to play, and a driving dunk from Tatum — sans an Adebayo block — gave the Celtics back the lead.

A Walker 3 gave Boston a cushion with four to play, but Miami came charging back to close the gap to one on a Butler dunk. A trip to the line and a trey from Dragic put the Heat up five with 1:30 to go, and a Crowder make pushed the lead to seven.

A pair of 3s from Brown kept the Celtics alive, but a third wasn’t in the making, Butler icing it from the line to take a two-game series lead with a 106-101 win.

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