HEAT IN BOSTON: Miami ignited against the Celtics with a record 23 three-pointers away – Sport

M Miami Heat made 23 three-point field goals to blow away the defense of the NBA’s undisputed regular-season leader, the Boston Celtics. With a 111:101 victory in Boston, the team from Florida evened the series 1:1 in the first round of the playoffs 2 games ago at home.

Those 23 3-pointers in Boston are a record in Miami history – the previous mark was 20 from 2021.

The Celtics started confidently – 14:9 by the fifth minute, still solid in defense and excellent Tatum (28 points). But then the Heat started firing and that shook the hosts’ confidence.

The chase in the score continued until the beginning of the third quarter, when the leader of the regular season trailed 70:82, a difference that he was never able to melt, overwhelmed by the murderous accuracy of the opponent’s shooting.

Tyler Hero (24 points on 6/11 from long range), Caleb Martin (21 points on 5/6) and Nikola Jovic (11 points on 3/4) missed almost nothing, and 61 points from the Brown-Tatum duo was not enough.

Boston lost just its fourth home game this season out of 41.

Miami Heat is clearly entering the form that launched the team to the finals for the NBA title last season, when from the eighth position in the Eastern Conference in the first round of the playoffs, they again dealt with the leader at the time – Milwaukee.

In the other NBA game played that night, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a resounding success 124:92 over the New Orleans Pelicans. Thus, the Thunder have a 2-0 lead in the series for the first time since 2013.

The champion after the regular season in the Western Conference opened a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter, which ended at 35:22, and until the end of the game the difference between the two teams continued to grow.

Shai Gilges-Alexander scored 33 points for the winners, and rookie Chet Holmgren had 26 more. Each of the hosts’ starters scored at least 13 points, making up for the modest contributions of the bench players, who finished with just 16 total points.

For the visitors from New Orleans, who are without their injured leader Zion Williamson, 19 points were scored by the Lithuanian Jonas Valanciunas.

The next two games of the series are in New Orleans.

Matches from the first round of the playoffs in the National Basketball Association of the USA and Canada (NBA):

Eastern Conference:

Boston – Miami – 101:111
* The result in the series is 1:1 wins. It is played to four successes from seven games.

Western Conference:

Oklahoma City – New Orleans – 124:92
* Oklahoma City leads with 2-0 wins. It is played to four successes from seven games.