By Darryl Harding Sr –
It’s been said that defense wins championships, if that’s the case the Celtics are well on their way to securing an 18th trophy. Allowing only 88 points to the Heat in the entirety of the game, Celtics defense is what keeps them in the win column.
A surprising outburst from Derrick White scoring 22 points in the first half was the offensive spark that Boston was looking for. Finishing with a game high 38 points. White played the lead offensively while Jason Tatum with 20 and Jaylen Brown with 17 played supporting cast racking up the points.
Despite an amazing performance by Bam Adebayo scoring 25 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, the Heat just couldn’t muster enough offense to quell the onslaught defensively by the Celtics. Coupled with a poor night shooting from the three-point line at 27% the Heat only scored 88 points to the Celtics 102.
Defensively the Celtics managed to have another 12-point quarter with the Heat scoring so poorly the Celtics only had to make sure they didn’t defeat themselves. With a possible elimination game on Wednesday night the series heads back to Boston where Celtics fans hope to close it out.
One more defensive highlight was Jrue Holiday’s defense on Tyler Herro, holding him to just 19 points and four assists. Although not the highest scorer Holiday is a linchpin to the Celtics keeping turnovers to a minimum and seeing the entire court.
The Heat will never go quietly so Wednesday night at TD Garden proves to be an exciting game 5.
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