Celtics catch fire vs. Heat in ‘exceptional’ offensive night
MIAMI — The Boston Celtics had a primary quarter like nobody else in their storied historical past Wednesday night, scoring 53 factors in the opening 12 minutes of a 147-129 victory over the Miami Heat.
It was the second-highest-scoring first quarter in NBA regular-season historical past. The Golden State Warriors had a 55-point opening quarter at portland on April 9, 2023, and Miami had a 53-point opening quarter towards charlotte on Nov. 7.
“Getting to the paint, getting to the basket and finishing. I think that was the catalyst,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown he mentioned.
Boston’s 147 factors tied its second most in a highway sport in franchise historical past. It was additionally probably the most factors the Heat have allowed at residence.
“I thought we executed pretty well,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “There’s times when you execute well and you get good shot after good shot. It just kind of happens. Usually when you’re in moments like that and you start to feel it, you take poor shots. We didn’t do that. We kept fighting for a good look, the next-best look, and I thought that kind of kept the momentum going a little bit.”
Boston led 53-33 on the finish of the quarter, after taking pictures 20-for-28 from the sector and 11-for-15 from 3-point vary.
The 53 first-quarter factors was the second-highest complete the Celtics have had in 1 / 4; that they had 54 in the fourth quarter of a sport towards the San Diego Clippers on Feb. 25, 1970. And it was probably the most factors allowed by Miami in any quarter; the Heat gave up 50 in the fourth quarter of a sport at Seattle on Jan. 5, 1990.
Sam Hauser had 17 factors, going 5-for-5 from past the arc, whereas taking part in all 12 minutes of the primary quarter. Brown had 20 factors by himself in the quarter — the ninth 20-point quarter of his profession, together with playoffs.
“This is going to sound crazy, but this is different than the other games that we’re talking about,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned. “Our guys were locked in and competing. There was an exceptional level of shotmaking on [Boston’s] part to start the game.”
Brown ended up with 43 factors, and Jayson Tatum had a 28-point, 18-rebound, 11-assist triple-double — his first of the season, after lacking a lot of it whereas recovering from the Achilles tendon tear he suffered in final season’s playoffs.
Tatum now has 83 factors, 35 rebounds and 24 assists in his previous three video games. The final Celtics participant to place up these numbers in a three-game span was Larry Bird in April 1990.
“It was just high-level shotmaking on both ends,” Tatum mentioned.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.
