MIAMI (AP) — His team was down by eight at halftime, and Miami coach Erik Spoelstra went into the locker room ready to deliver a big speech.
Turns out, one wasn't needed.
Jimmy Butler decided to let his play do the talking.
Butler scored 27 of his 41 points in the second half, and a huge third quarter by the Heat carried them to a 118-107 win over the short-handed Boston Celtics 118-107 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.
“Jimmy Butler is an elite competitor," Spoelstra said. “There's a lot of guys in this league that are playing basketball. He's competing to win. That's a totally different thing and he does that as well as anybody in this league."
Tyler Herro scored 18 and Gabe Vincent added 17 for the Heat, who outscored Boston 39-14 in the third quarter. Butler had 17 alone in the third, outscoring the Celtics by himself over those 12 minutes.
Boston shot 2 for 15 in that third quarter.
“We won three quarters other than that, but obviously that one is going to stand out," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “We semi-bounced back in the fourth and started to play well again and matched their physicality, but 39-14 on 2-for-15 is tough to overcome."
Along with the 41 points, the rest of Butler's line: Nine rebounds, five assists, four steals, and three blocked shots. Since the NBA started charting all those stat categories, only five other players — Anthony Davis, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Harden (who did it twice) — had all those numbers in a single game. None happened in a playoff game, until now.
“I continued to play basketball the right way: Shoot the ball when I’m open, attack, hit the open guy,” Butler said. “Honestly, it was a team effort.”
Max Strus scored 11 and Bam Adebayo added 10 for Miami.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 for the Celtics, who were without starters Marcus Smart (foot) and Al Horford (health and safety protocols). Jaylen Brown added 24 for Boston, which got 18 apiece from Robert Williams III and Payton Pritchard.
Game 2 is Thursday.
Boston led by 13 in the first half and took a 62-54 lead into halftime. A 22-2 run was how Miami started the second half, the run punctuated by steals that led to baskets on three consecutive possessions. Strus had one, the next two by Butler pushed the lead out to 76-64, and the Heat were off and running.
“It wasn’t anything different that they did,” Udoka said. “They just came out and imposed their will.”
The lead reached 96-76 when Herro was fouled on a 3-point try and made all three free throws early in the fourth.
Boston had a run left; a 10-0 spurt cut the deficit in half, and a 3-pointer from Tatum made it a nine-point game — outcome still very much in doubt — with 7:35 left.
But the Heat had a response. PJ Tucker answered Tatum’s 3 with one of his own. Brown then connected from deep to get Boston within single digits again, only to have that one answered by a 3 from Strus.
“Our energy shifted," Adebayo said. “That was the biggest key."
Some of the plans that both sides had for Game 1 were thrown away about 3 ½ hours before game time, when the Celtics revealed that Smart and Horford wouldn’t be playing. Smart’s absence was somewhat expected because of a mid-foot sprain he suffered in Game 7 of the East semifinals against Milwaukee on Sunday.
Horford’s absence, however, was a surprise.
He entered the league’s health and safety protocols Tuesday afternoon, which ruled him out of Game 1 and quite possibly could keep him out for multiple games going forward. Yet even without two starters, Boston had a chance.
“Other than the third quarter, I think we won every other quarter," Pritchard said. “Obviously, we try not to let that happen next time."
TIP-INS
Celtics: Boston’s biggest lead was 13 points. The Celtics are now 46-7 this season in games in which it led by at least that many. ... Boston scored 18 points of the first 6 ½ minutes of the first half, then two points in the first 6 ½ minutes of the second half. ... The Celtics trailed for only 16 seconds in the first two quarters. ... Boston has dropped 17 of its last 26 East finals games.
Heat: Former Miami guard Goran Dragic was in attendance. ... This series is the 50th in Heat postseason history. They’re now 28-22 in Game 1s. ... Butler’s 15th point — a free throw 16 seconds into the second half — gave him 14,000 for his career, including playoffs. He’s the 220th NBA player to score that many. ... Miami missed its first seven shots. ... Tucker left in the second quarter to get his right ankle re-taped, then returned for the second half.
BLOCK PARTY
There were 20 blocked shots in the game — 12 by Miami, eight by Boston.
SECOND BEST (AND WORST)
The 25-point differential in the third quarter was the second-best for the Heat and the second-worst for the Celtics this season. Miami outscored Charlotte by 27 in the third quarter on Feb. 5. Boston was outscored by 28 points in the fourth quarter by Chicago on Nov. 1.
SLOW SECOND
Boston didn’t have a field goal in the first six minutes of the second half — the slowest start to a half in any of the Celtics’ 94 games this season. The previous low for field goals made in the opening 6:00 of a half by the Celtics this season, including playoffs, was one in the second half against the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 7.
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