The Boston Celtics concede the equalizer as the Miami Heat shoot three after three. The Oklahoma City Thunder, on the other hand, step up emphatically against New Orleans. The NBA on Thursday morning
The Boston Celtics were not only the best NBA team of the regular season, they were also the second most successful at making threes. In this respect, they had to admit on Thursday night (CEST) that they were beaten at their own game in the second playoff game of the conference quarter-finals against the Miami Heat.
After a commanding 114:94 home win in the opener, the Celtics surprisingly lost 101:111 to Miami and thus lost the home court advantage they had laboriously fought for in the 82 games of the main round. The Heat set a new franchise record in the playoffs with 23 successful threes (out of 43, 53.5 percent).
Six of them were made by Tyler Herro, who was the best scorer for the visitors with a total of 24 points and 14 assists, although Bam Adebayo (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Caleb Martin (21 points) also surpassed the 20-point mark. “That was a very good response,” said a satisfied Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, who had to do without the injured Jimmy Butler for the third time in a row.
The Celtics, who had won 64 times in the regular season and thus celebrated at least seven more victories than any other NBA team, saw Jaylen Brown score 33 points and Jayson Tatum – with his first ever playoff triple-double in the first meeting – 28. “We just couldn’t get them to drop,” Brown lamented. The series now switches to Miami for Games 3 and 4.
Gilgeous-Alexander leads OKC to a 2-0 lead
The Oklahoma City Thunder, number one in the Western Conference, improved to 2-0 at home in their series against the New Orleans Pelicans. The visitors scored 92 points, as in their first defeat, but this time OKC scored a whopping 124 instead of 94. Thanks to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33 points), Chet Holmgren (26 points, 7 rebounds) and Jalen Williams (21 points), the Thunder, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2019/20, put in a much more commanding performance than three days earlier and only need two more wins to progress.
