The Boston Celtics came back from a 22-point deficit to defeat the Miami Heat at TD Garden on a packed Friday night, led by 29 points from MVP candidate Jaylen Brown and 24 points from the always reliable Payton Pritchard, who contributed off the bench.
The Heat were off to a hot start, scoring 10 of the first 12 points of the game, and just before halftime they held their biggest lead of the night at 22 points. It was all smiles for Miami until there were 7:06 minutes remaining in the third quarter, when Boston went on a 25–7 run to tie the game heading into the fourth and final quarter.
TD Garden erupted every time the Celtics scored or made a defensive stop. Recently acquired at the trade deadline, Nikola Vucevic was cheered loudly by the crowd and tallied a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds in his Celtics debut.
“In the second half we tightened things up on the defensive end, we got going offensively, JB (Jaylen Brown) and Payton (Pritchard) got going. We just stayed composed throughout the whole game, stuck to what we do, and that’s when you see why this team has championship-caliber players,” Vucevic said following his debut.
Pritchard led the comeback with 19 second-half points.
Miami had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Davion Mitchell missed a corner three-pointer with less than 3 seconds remaining. Andrew Wiggins led the Heat with 26 points, while All-Star Norman Powell added 24.
Despite those contributions, Miami was outscored 60–37 in the second half as Boston extended its winning streak to five games. Celtics are now tied with the New York Knicks with the second best record in the Eastern Conference -both just behind the Detroit Pistons.
''It's one of the loudest places in the NBA,'' ''Vooch' added. ''It's much nicer when the fans are behind you and supporting you.''