Tyler Herro scored 24 points and 14 assists, and Caleb Martin and Bam Adebayo each had 21 points, leading the Miami Heat to a 111-101 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Heat, who were 14.5-point underdogs, bounced back to even the series after an abysmal showing in Game 1 on Sunday. The group struggled to shoot in that game, converting just 12-of-37 from 3-point range, and was outrebounded 44-34 by the Celtics.
On Wednesday, the Heat couldn’t miss.
They set a playoff franchise record by hitting 23 3-pointers in the contest, tied for the third-most by any team in history. Herro and Martin combined for 11 of them, while rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. (14 points) and Nikola Jovic (11 points) added three apiece.
The team knew it had to play with more urgency in Game 2.
“I think, as a collective, we just came together and knew we needed a better effort than we played in the first game, and that was just our mentality,” Jaquez said. “We had to give a much better effort — it is the playoffs. We kind of got punched in the mouth and then I think we responded great.”
The story of tonight's game… MIAMI'S 3-POINT SHOOTING π₯π―
βͺοΈ 23 3-pointers (23/43), the most by the @MiamiHEAT in a postseason game!
βͺοΈ 62% of their points came from downtown π€― pic.twitter.com/LtQaIAT9mU
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2024
Playing without Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (neck), the Heat were run out of the gym in Game 1. They never led in the contest and trailed by as many as 34 points before chipping the final deficit down to 20 points at the buzzer.
With two days off between games, the Heat had ample time to formulate a game plan for Wednesday. Part of the challenge was also preparing the group to be prepared and to erase any memory of Game 1, and the players responded to the challenge.
“When you have some younger players, you just have to constantly remind them that one game is one game, just like this win is just one win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Series are potentially long and tough and you have to stay emotionally and mentally stable throughout all of it. You just have to focus on competing at a high level together and doing things that lead to winning.”
The Heat still have most of the players who advanced to the NBA Finals last year. That group advanced through the Eastern Conference out of the play-in tournament and became just the second team to make it past the second round of the playoffs as an 8-seed.
Many of those players still have that memory fresh in their minds and are leaning on that improbable run this year. That experience has proven to be invaluable and showed up once again on Wednesday.
“I just think it speaks more to the mentality of the group,” Martin said. “No matter what, we’ve been in these situations many times before. Just staying with it through bad games and slumps and having the confidence in our group and our staff to put something together to put us in the right position to play well.”
Game 3 will tip off at 6 p.m. EDT on Saturday in Miami on TNT.
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