Jaylen Brown throws down a dunk in the second quarter for 2 of his game-high 29 points as the Celtics erased a 22-point deficit to beat the Heat at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown throws down a dunk in the second quarter for 2 of his game-high 29 points as the Celtics erased a 22-point deficit to beat the Heat at TD Garden.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
For more than half of their game against the Heat on Friday, the Celtics were stumbling through one of their worst long-range shooting performances in franchise history. Boston started the game 1 for 21 from the 3-point line, a slump that is all but impossible to overcome at this level.
But when this team looks up and sees big deficits, it mostly shrugs, particularly when they sink into the hole due to their own shooting, because they are confident the fog will eventually lift.
The Celtics trailed by as many as 22 points in the first half and 18 with seven minutes left in the third quarter, but they erased the rest of that deficit by the start of the fourth, and had no intention of wasting that effort.
The final result required a slice of luck, but the 98-96 win that was secured when Heat guard Davion Mitchell missed a wide-open 3-pointer in the final second was made possible by the 18 minutes that preceded that moment.
Jaylen Brown had 29 points to lead the Celtics and Payton Pritchard scored 19 of his 24 in the second half. Nikola Vucevic, who was acquired in a trade with the Bulls on Thursday, had 11 points and 12 rebounds in his Celtics debut. The Celtics closed the game by making 9 of 15 3-pointers.
Andrew Wiggins had 26 points to lead the Heat, who also coughed up a 19-point lead in a loss to the Celtics last month.
The Celtics pushed back into contention with a 12-0 third-quarter run that was sparked by Pritchard and led, 79-74, early in the fourth. But with TD Garden rumbling and the Heat reeling, the Celtics did not quite deliver the crushing blow.
A Wiggins 3-pointer put the Heat back in front, 94-91, with 3:58 left. But Brown then came up with a steal in the backcourt and scored, and with Boston trailing by 1, he won a critical jump ball against Heat big man Bam Adebayo, leading to a Derrick White 3-pointer from the right corner that gave Boston a 98-96 lead.
But Brown was whistled for an offensive foul with 40.9 seconds left, and White missed a 3-pointer on Boston’s next possession, giving the Heat a final chance. Wiggins attacked the rim and found Mitchell in the left corner for a clean, open look. But the shot caromed off the rim, and Boston’s comeback was complete.
For the second consecutive game, coach Joe Mazzulla started big men Neemias Queta and Luka Garza together, with Pritchard, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, returning to his bench role.
This time, however, there was a larger reinforcement available. Vucevic received a warm ovation when he checked in3:02 into the contest and Boston trailing by 7, and his strengths and flaws were both quickly visible.
The Heat attacked him on several possessions. Powell surged over him for a floater, Adebayo hit a pull-up jumper over him, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. took his turn.
But at the other end, Vucevic scrapped for a loose ball and scored inside, and later grabbed an offensive rebound and fired a laser of a pass to Baylor Scheierman, who hit a corner jumper.
Scheierman’s foot was on the 3-point line, and perhaps that was the only reason the ball went in.
For the Celtics, who scored just two points over the game’s first five minutes, the basket seemed to appear narrower than a mail slot when they fired up 3-pointers. They made just 1 of 10 in the opening quarter, and things somehow got worse in the second, when they missed all 10.
Many of the looks early in the second were particularly clean and open, and generated for shooters who generally have success from that range. But no one was immune to the downturn.
In the first half, White was 0 for 6, Sam Hauser was 0 for 5, and Brown was 0 for 3.
Anfernee Simons, who was traded away in the Vucevic deal, had emerged as a player Boston relied on to come off the bench and flip a cold night into a warm one in a hurry. But he is in Chicago now.
Seemingly aware that Boston might have to find a different way to give itself a chance, Brown began attacking the rim in the second quarter. He had success, at one point scoring 13 consecutive Celtics points. But the other side of a streak like that is that it means there is not much help.
In the second quarter, the Heat were just 2 for 7 from the 3-point line and 8 for 12 from the foul line, which is all that kept the game at least somewhat in reach for Boston, which went to the break trailing, 59-38.
At the start of the third quarter Brown began to force the issue a bit trying to carry Boston back by himself, however, leading to some clunky possessions. He checked out with 6:53 left and Boston trailing, 67-49, and the game flipped.
The Celtics, who had made just two 3-pointers over the game’s first 29 minutes, needed just one minute to top that number, with Pritchard draining two from beyond the arc and White adding one to spark a 12-0 run.
Vucevic then endeared himself to the crowd by producing a dominant stretch inside. He scored eight straight Boston points with three layups and two free throws, and a pair of White free throws with 7.2 seconds left in the third gave Boston its first lead, 74-72.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.