The first game back from a long road trip, and in this case a historic one for the Boston Celtics, can often be the trickiest.
That certainly was the case for the Celtics, who saw their season-long nine-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday night at the hand of the Miami Heat.
The Celtics mounted a second-half comeback after they trailed by as much as 22 points in the third quarter. But Boston could never get over the hump and the Heat pulled away for a [124-103 win](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401705672) at TD Garden. The Celtics are now 56-20 on the season.
The Celtics used a 19-1 run in the third quarter to take the big deficit all the way down to three points. That’s as close as the Celtics got to the Heat as they had a few chances to overtake Miami after that, but couldn’t seize the opportunity.
Here are three studs and three duds from another home loss for the Celtics:
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**STUDS**
**Luke Kornet**
Kornet really steadied Boston’s frontcourt with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford sitting out the contest. He led all Celtics scorers in the first half with 10 points and added a couple more buckets over the final 24 minutes to finish with 14 points on an efficient 7-for-9 shooting. Kornet also made an impact on the glass, grabbing six offensive rebounds. He was the only Celtics player with a positive plus-minus rating as he came in at a plus-3.
**Jaylen Brown**
Brown carried the bulk of the scoring load for the Celtics despite dealing with a nagging knee injury. The Celtics star poured in a team-high 24 points on 10-for-20 shooting to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. A healthy Brown, who looked to be grimacing at points in the game, will be imperative for the Celtics in the playoffs.
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**Heat Bench**
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t go deep into his bench, but the three reserves he used were highly productive. Kyle Anderson, Haywood Highsmith and Davion Mitchell proved essential to Miami’s win. The trio combined for 42 points with Anderson netting 19 of them. The Heat bench had more double the production of the Celtics bench before garbage time ensued.
**DUDS**
**Jayson Tatum**
Tatum’s inefficiency landed him on this list. He shot 4-for-17 from the floor, including 2-for-9 from 3-point range, to score 16 points. It would have been nice to see him attack the basket even more than he did since he got to the free-throw line seven times. But instead, Tatum settled from a lot of jumpers.
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**Torrey Craig**
Craig better try to get all the playing time over these final games in the regular season because his butt is going to be glued to the bench once the playoffs start. Craig really hasn’t had a meaningful moment since joining the Celtics in early February and Wednesday was more of the same from the veteran forward. Craig got some consisted run from Joe Mazzulla, but chipped in just two points on 1-for-5 shooting to finish with a minus-23 rating in 19 minutes.
**TD Garden Celtics**
It’s just strange the difference in the Celtics playing at home this season compared to past years. They are now 24-13 on the famed parquet, which is almost twice as many losses than they have on the road this season. In comparison, the Celtics went 37-4 at home in the regular season during their championship 2023-24 campaign. Mazzulla pointed to his team’s mindset as the reason to the road success. So, perhaps that’s the reason for their struggles at times at home.
Featured image via Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images