Heat 94 - 114 Celtics summary stats, scores and highlights | NBA Playoffs Game 1

The game was never really close in the second half, and even though the Heat made a late run to cut the lead to 15 the Celtics eased to victory with many of their starters in the game until the final few minutes. Tatum was one of the starters who played until the finish line as the Celtics look to get back into playoff rhythm after breezing through the final stretch of the season. The Celtics will try to hold on to home court advantage on Wednesday 7 PM ET. 

Porzingis showed he is going to be a problem for the Heat and who ever gets in their way on the way to the Finals. He's a match up nightmare that can kill you from inside or from the perimeter. The Latvian had 18 points and went 4/8 from the three point line. 

Brown had the first five points of the game but took a back seat to Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis who enjoyed him self in his first playoff game in the green and white Celtics jerseys. Brown ended the night with 17 points and 8 rebounds. 

The Heat would cut the lead to six at the end of th first quarter, but that was about as close as they would get. Sam Hauser came off the bench in the second quarter and hit four threes, three within a matter of a couple minutes. The Celtics hit 22-49 threes against a Miami team that looked over matched. 

The Boston Celtics cruised to victory over the Miami Heat their playoff opening on Sunday afternoon from TD Garden. Jayson Tatum led the way with his first playoff triple double, positing 23 points, 10 rebound and 10 assists in the 114-94 win. 

The Celtics were coming off a 10 day rest since the end of the regular season as the Miami Heat had to battle through two games of the Play-In game, and to make matters worse they entered the first round with Jimmy Butler sidelined with a sprained MCL. Boston came out swinging, going up 14-0 to start Game 1. 

IT'S ALL OVER!!!

The Boston Celtics take Game 1 after a triple double performance from Jayton Tatum, his first in his playoff career. 

Tatum back to the line and he hits both FTs and that's going to do it. 

Martin with a hard foul on Tatum, and Brown gets in the face of Martin as he protects his teammate. Tatum hits both FTs. 

Brown to the line and he hits both FTs. 

Timeout Heat with 1:30 to go in the 4th. 

Adebayo sinks the baby hook shot in the lane. 

White to the line after the foul on Adebayo and he his both FTs. 

Adebayo from the corner and he drills the three ball as the Heat continue to fight. 

Adebayo with the short floater in the lane. 

White with a run ending three ball to deflate the miracle comeback bid from Miami. 

Back to back threes from Wright and that's five threes in the quarter!

Timeout Celtics with under 4:00 to go!

Wright drills another three ball, his fourth of the game1

Herro with another three ball, his second of the last few minutes and the Heat will hope to see him get hot late and have it carry into Game 2. 

Jaquez to the rack and he gets the lay up to go. 

Porzingis hits the short step back from he wing. 

Jaquez finds Martin cutting down the baseline and finds him for the slam. 

Adebayo with the runner in the lane and that falls. 

Herro gets a three ball to fall, but that's coming much too late from the Heat's second leading scorer. 

Tatum hits the mid range jumper out of the timeout and I must admit I'm surprised to see him on the court still. 

Robinson on the back door cut and Love hit him for the lay up. 

Timeout Celtics with 8:03 to go in the 4th quarter. 

White answers back with a triple try as the Celtics continue to add to their three point tally. 

Three straight triples from Wright, but it's coming a little too late for the Heat. 

Wright with back to back three balls, this one from the top of the key. 

Horford has five quick points in the quarter after drilling the three ball off the kick out from Tatum. 

Wright drills the three ball in the corner off the kickout from Highsmith. 

Hoford starts the fouth quarter with a lay up and we are very close to the Celtics starters heading to the bench for the rest of the day. 

Brown ends the third quarter with a floater down the lane and it's a blow out here from Boston!

Adebayo with the catch and shoot floater in the lane. 

White drills a three ball from the top of the key and the Heat call a timeout down 32 with 32 to go in the 3rd quarter. 

 Brown gets into the lane and hits the runner from the left side. 

White drills the elbow jumper off the dish from Porzingis. 

White to the line after the foul on Jaquez and he hits both FTs. 

Horford drills the three ball off the kick out from Brown for back to back three balls from the Boston big men!

Timeout Heat with under 3:00 to go in the 3rd quarter. 

Porzingis with the pump fake and pull up from three point range, and he's got four on the afternoon. 

Jovic drills the three ball from the wing off the kick out from Martin. It's been him and Jaquez so far in this second half. 

Brown out of the timeout and he drills the three ball to push the lead to 20!

Kick out from Tatum and White drills the three ball from the wing! They've got 15 threes already today. 

Timeout Heat with 7:05 to go in the third. 

Tatum blows past his defender and streaks down the lane for the lay up. 

Jaquez goes coast to coast and slices down the lane for the finger roll. 

Jovic sticks the three ball from the top of the key! If Miami are going to get back into this game they are going to need some more of that. 

Jaquez into the lane and hits the turnaround jumper from inside the FT line. 

Holiday steps back and drills the three ball from the wing!

Pozringis taps it out on the offensive board and Brown gets an open look in the corner for three!

Jaquez starts us off with a lay up down the lane. 

WE ARE BACK IN BOSTON FOR THE SECOND HALF OF ACTION. 

Hauser came off the bench and hits three quick four to extinguish the Miami comeback bid early on. He's got 12 points at the halftime break. 

The Heat would battle back from their slow start on the shoulders of Bam Adebayo and rookie Jaime Jaquez who is playing the first playoff game of his young career. 

The Celtics jumped out to a 14-0 start thanks to a red hot start from Brown and an ice cold start from Miami. 

WE ARE HEADED TO THE HALFTIME BREAK HERE FROM BOSTON!

The Celtics lead by 15 after going up 14-0 to start the game. 

Jaquez down the lane and he stretches to the cup for the lay up. 

White in the paint and he leans in for the floater. 

Martin hits a deep two with his foot on the line. 

Pozringis strokes another three ball, that's his third of the half!

Herro drills a three ball, just his second FG of the day and let's see if that gets him going in the second half. 

Porzingis drills a catch and shoot three ball over Herro!

Jovic to the line and he hit both FTs after the foul on White. 

Tatum with the steal and the tough lay up in traffic on the break. 

Adabayo steps into the short jumper in the lane and hits it out of the timeout. 

Adebayo pulls up from the elbow after pulling down the rebound on the other end and the Celtics are going to take a timeout with under 5:30 to go in the half. 

Tatum is starting to warm up in this second quarter. He hits the spot up from the elbow. 

Adebayo to the line after the foul on Porzingis and he hits both FTs. 

Tatum to the line after the foul on Highsmith and he hits both FTs. 

Tatum steps back and hits the elbow J. He's got 9 in this first half. 

Horford opens his account with a short jumper from outside the lane. 

Hauser with three ball number four of the quarter! He is taking over this game!

Robinson on the board for the first time today as he drills the three ball!

Pritchard fights for the offensive board and the put back down low. 

Adebayo with the turn around jumper off the glass and that's where most of his offense has come from today. 

Tatum to the line after the foul on Herro and he hits both FTs. He's got 7 on the day. 

Hauser with his third triple in a matter of minutes! 

Heat timeout with 10:02 to go in the half. 

Love with the tip in off the Jaquez miss. 

Hauser with back to back three balls, this one from the other corner!

Extra pass from Pritchard to Hauser in the corner and he drills the three ball!

Jaquez starts the quarter with a spin and lay up off the glass from the block. 

We are at the end of the first quarter!

Boston took a 14-0 lead to start the game, but the Heat have battled back to close the gap to 5. 

Love with the turnaround and he drills the elbow jumper. 

Jaquez beats the defense down the court and Highsmith hit him with a full court pass for the lay in. 

Love was left alone on the perimeter and he drills the three ball from the wing. 

Pritchard with the catch and shoot three ball from the TD Garden logo!

Wright with the scoop and score over Porzingis and the Celtics will take a timeout with 3:14 to go in the first quarter. 

Herro into the lane and he hits the leaner in traffic. 

Porzingis spots up from the wing and drills the three ball off the bounce pass from Pritchard. 

Pritchard laces the three ball to break a scoreless run of over three minutes. 

Jovic in transition and he goes into the body of Horford for the runner in the paint. 

Martin picks up his second foul but Brown misses both FTs. He's been struggling from the line this season. 

Turnaround on the baseline from Jaquez and he hits the fader. 

Adebayo to the line after the foul on Porzingis and he hits both FTs. 

Another tough shot from Adebayo off the glass from outside the lane. 

Tatum with the catch and shoot from downtown off the dish from White. 

Adebayo puts the Heat on the board with a tough turnaround jumper over Porzingis. 

Pozingis spots up over Herro and hits the FT line jumper. 

Holiday drops a three ball off the feed from Tatum out of the timeout!

Tatum drives down the lane and he gets the reverse lay up to go and the Heat need a quick timeout less than two minutes into this game. 

Tatum finds Porzingis at the FT line and he hits the catch and shoot jumper. 

Brown spins down the lane and he finishes with the flush!

Tatum missed the jam on the baseline, got his rebound and kicked it out to Brown for three!

WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM BOSTON!!!

The Celitcs are coming into the playoffs locked and loaded. They have a healthy, rested team with eyes on a deep postseason run. Joe Mazzulla's has one of the top starting fives in the game, and has all of them at his disposal today. It's Tatum, Brown, Holiday, White and Porzingis to start Game 1 in Boston. 

With Jimmy Butler out with a knee injury, it's Nikola Jovic who will get the nod today in Boston. He started 38 games this season, and with the Heat's top dog out it's going to be up to the Serbian to step up and fill the void left by Butler's absence. Jovic will be joined by Jaquez, Martin, Herro and Bam Adebayo. 

Playoff Jimmy sidelined

What are the playoffs without Playoff Jimmy? Unfortunately the Miami Heat are going to have to find out. Butler was injured in the Heat’s opening Play-In against the Philadelphia 76ers, and even though he finished the game that Miami would end up losing by a point he missed the do or die game against the Chicago Bulls. Tests showed that Butler sprained his MCL, which means that the Heat will be without their top scorer for multiple weeks. He is unlikely to return before this series ends, even if it goes to a seventh game. 

Season series 

The Heat and the Celtics played three times over the course of the regular season and it should not come as a surprise that Boston dominated the season series. They won their first and only home game against the Heat by eight points in the second game of the season. The second game of the season took place in Miami, but the Celtics went into South Beach and crushed the Heat by 33 points. In the final match up the Celtics wrapped up the season sweep of the Heat with a four point win from Kaseya Center. Recent history would suggest the Heat are going to have a tough time winning a game against the C’s, let alone four in seven games, but Miami is a team that knows how to win in the postseason. 

Miami need their Herro

The Heat had a miraculous run to the NBA Finals last year. Miami was only the sixth 8 seed to knock off a 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs before becoming the first eight seed to reach the championship series. Obviously Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were of massive importance during the playoffs last year, but the Heat got production from guys like Gabe Vincent and Caleb Martin. This year they are without Vincent who is now in LA with the Lakers, but they do have Tyler Herro who missed most of the postseason with a broken hand last year. Herro led the Heat into the playoffs with a 24 point performance against the Bulls and is averaging 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists this season. 

Men on a mission

While the offseason additions of Porzingis and Holiday have amplified the Celtics chances of taking the title this season, this is still Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s teams. Brown got a record breaking contract from the Celtics over the summer and he has delivered after breaking the bank in the offseason. He is averaging 23 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists. They may not be MVP numbers but they don’t have to be. He and Jayson Tatum have found a way to co exist for the good of the team, and that’s why the C’s come into the playoffs as the favorites to make the Finals in the East. Tatum, much like Brown, isn’t going to win the league’s MVP award, but he has sacrificed his stats to ensure the Celtics are a well balanced team that has multiple ways to beat you. Tatum is getting 27 points, 8 rebound and 5 assists a game and like Brown is coming in to the playoffs well rested, and 100% healthy. 

Miami’s last game

The Miami Heat lost their first game of the Play-In against the Philadelphia 76ers and lost their leader in the same game. The loss set up a do or die matchup with the Chicago Bulls in a game that they would have to win without Jimmy Butler. The Heat jumped out to a huge early lead thanks to Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez and cruised to victory to secure their playoff position. Kevin Love got 16 off the bench as the Heat put in a complete performance to get through the Play-In for a second straight year. They will need all hands on deck if they are going to shock the one seed again this season, especially without Playoff Jimmy. 

We are live from the Garden 

Hello everyone and welcome to Boston where the one seeded Celtics will have home court throughout the playoffs after dominating the Eastern Conference. They were so far in front of the pack they were able to take their foot off the gas for the final stretch of the season, which is a luxury for teams trying to stay healthy but also a curse for teams looking to enter the postseason playing their best ball. The Heat had to battle through two games of the Play-In Tournament just to make it to the playoffs and now they are looking to return to the finals from their eighth seed in the East, but will have to do so without Jimmy Butler.

Heat vs. Celtics Game 1 

We have a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals to kick off the first round of the playoffs. It’s the top team in the league taking on a team that barely snuck into the playoffs in the second Play-In game, and now they will look for another repeat run deep into the playoffs. It’s the Boston Celtics hosting the Miami Heat in Game 1 from TD Garden and AS English will be with you all afternoon providing live coverage, stats highlights and analysis of today’s opening game of the 1 vs. 8 matchup.