Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) drives to the basket between Boston Celtics forward Torrey Craig (12) and center Neemias Queta (88) during the first half at TD Garden. Bob DeChiara Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s impressive 124-103 win over the Boston Celtics (56-20) on Wednesday night at TD Garden to win its sixth straight game and close its three-game trip at a perfect 3-0. The Heat (35-41) now returns to Miami to begin a three-game homestand on Thursday against the Memphis Grizzlies (7:30 p.m., TNT) to complete its final back-to-back set of the season:
After enduring one of its worst stretches in more than a decade, the Heat continued its best stretch of the season with a quality road win over the Celtics.
The Heat has immediately followed its 10-game losing skid with a season-long six-game winning streak. All six of the victories have come by double-digits.
With four of the first five wins during this stretch coming against teams with losing records, the Heat proved to be up for the challenge against the defending NBA champion Celtics. Along with extending its own winning streak, Miami also snapped Boston’s nine-game winning streak.
The Heat did it in convincing fashion, too, taking a 20-17 lead with 3:45 left in the first quarter and never trailing for the rest of the night.
The Heat led by as many as 15 points in the first half and entered halftime with a 14-point advantage behind a spirited defensive effort. Boston shot just 37.2 percent from the field and 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) on threes over the first two quarters.
The Heat then opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run to pull ahead by 22 points with less than two minutes into the period.
But as expected, the Celtics responded with a big 25-6 run to cut the deficit to three points with 4:28 left in the fourth quarter.
The Heat was able to stabilize things, though, closing the period on a 14-7 run to enter the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead.
After the Celtics scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to pull within four points, the Heat put the game away with a 20-9 spurt to increase its lead to 15 with 5:04 to play and force a Celtics timeout.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla then opted to pull the plug, returning from that timeout by subbing out Boston’s best players and emptying the bench.
The Heat used a balanced offensive attack to dismantle the Celtics’ defense, with seven Miami players scoring double-digit points.
Tyler Herro led the way for the Heat with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 shooting on threes and 9-of-10 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
Yes, the Celtics were missing Jrue Holiday (right shoulder impingement), Al Horford (left big toe sprain) and Kristaps Porzingis (return from illness reconditioning) against the Heat.
But the Heat was also short-handed, missing Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Kevin Love (personal reasons), Duncan Robinson (left sacroiliac joint dysfunction), Dru Smith (Achilles surgery) and Andrew Wiggins (right hamstring tendinopathy) on Wednesday.
The win snapped the Heat’s six-game regular-season losing streak to the Celtics. It laos marked the Heat’s first regular-season win in Boston since Dec. 2, 2022.
While the Heat is a near lock to be part of the NBA’s play-in tournament for the third straight season, it’s playing to improve its position in the play-in tournament.
The Heat entered Wednesday in ninth place in the East standings — one-half game ahead of the 10th-place Chicago Bulls (34-42). The Heat also entered Wednesday two games behind the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks (36-39) and two games behind the seventh-place Orlando Magic (37-40).
With the NBA announcing this year’s play-in tournament schedule on Wednesday, there’s more clarity on what it could look like for the Heat after it closes the regular season on Sunday, April 13.
The East’s play-in game between the No. 7 team and No. 8 team will be played on Tuesday, April 15 at a time still to be determined and aired on TNT. The winner of this matchup, which will be hosted by the seventh-place team, earns the conference’s seventh playoff seed.
The East’s play-in game between the No. 9 team and No. 10 team will be played on Wednesday, April 16 at a time still to be determined and aired on ESPN. The Heat — as the ninth-place team — would host the Bulls in this game if the current standings hold, with the loser of this matchup eliminated from playoff contention.
Then the East’s play-in game between the loser of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game and the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game will be played on Friday, April 18 and aired on TNT. The winner of this matchup, which will be hosted by the loser of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game, earns the conference’s eighth playoff seed.
So, if the Heat finishes the regular season in ninth or 10th place, it would need to win two straight games in the play-in tournament just to qualify for the playoffs as the East’s No. 8 seed. Closing the regular season in seventh or eighth place means the Heat would get two chances to win one play-in game to make the playoffs as either the East’s No. 7 or No. 8 seed.
The Heat escaped each of its first two trips to the NBA’s play-in tournament with the East’s No. 8 playoff seed, making an improbable run that ended with a loss to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals in 2023 and then being eliminated by the top-seeded Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last season.
Along with missing a few rotation players because of injuries, the Heat also had to overcome Bam Adebayo’s early foul trouble.
The Heat lost Adebayo for a few extra minutes early on because of foul trouble, as he was called for his second foul of the night with 5:37 left in the first quarter. Adebayo didn’t score during his limited playing time in the opening period and was on the bench until he re-entered the game with 9:11 remaining in the second quarter.
But Adebayo didn’t pick up another foul for the rest of the game, finishing the victory with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes, five rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes.
The Heat’s bench continues to produce quality minutes.
With Davion Mitchell back after missing Monday’s win over the Washington Wizards due to a stomach illness, the Heat returned to its short three-man bench rotation of Haywood Highsmith, Kyle Anderson and Mitchell.
These three have been fixtures in the Heat’s bench rotation over the last week and they have played well.
That trend continued in Boston, as Anderson, Highsmith and Mitchell combined for 42 points off the Heat’s bench.
Anderson totaled 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, one rebound, one assist and one steal in 24 minutes.
Highsmith recorded 10 points, four rebounds and one block in minutes.
Mitchell contributed 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting on threes, four rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 33 minutes.
The Heat then emptied its bench late in the blowout win.
The Heat is right back at it on Thursday to close its challenging late-season back-to-back set.
After defeating the team with the Eastern Conference’s second-best record on Wednesday night, the Heat will take a three-hour flight from Boston that is scheduled to land in Miami just after 2 a.m. on Thursday morning.
Then the Heat will be back on the court to host a desperate and talented Grizzlies team just 18 hours later on Thursday night.
The Grizzlies, which have dropped eight of their last 10 games, will have the rest advantage after last playing on Tuesday in a loss to the Golden State Warriors. Memphis has plenty to play for, entering Wednesday in sixth place in the Western Conference with a 44-32 record and in a battle to avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament.
The only players on the Grizzlies injury report for Thursday’s game in Miami are Brandon Clarke (right knee PCL sprain), Zyon Pullin (right patellar tendon surgery recovery) and Vince Williams Jr., who have all been ruled out for the contest.
It remains to be seen if the Heat will get Wiggins, Robinson and/or Love back for Thursday’s game.
Considering the Heat is just 10-26 this season in games against teams that currently have a winning record and will be playing on the second night of a rough back-to-back, Thursday’s matchup against the Grizzlies will be a tough one.
“That doesn’t matter,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the challenging circumstances. “We all have back to backs. We’re not afraid of those.”
The Heat is 7-7 on the second night of back-to-backs this season. This Celtics-Grizzlies set marks the Heat’s 15th and final back-to-back set of the season.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 9:59 PM.
