3 Heat takeaways from the deflating Game 4 loss vs. Celtics

Leading the Heat was Bam Adebayo who scored 25 points, five assists, and 17 rebounds, now tying LeBron James for the most double-doubles (31) in franchise postseason history. Tyler Herro had 19 points and Caleb Martin had 18 to round out the top three scorers for the team. For the Celtics, it was Derrick White who stole the show as he scored 38 points along with Tatum who had 20.

Miami tried to make a crack at it as late in the fourth quarter, they went on a 14-5 run to take down a 28-point lead down to 13 points, but that was the farthest they got to possibly doing a miracle as Boston got the victory. It was also the second straight game they scored under 90 points.

Here are three takeaways from the Heat’s loss in Game 4 to the Celtics:

Another sloppy start from Miami that sets the tone

The start of Game 4 was in some ways deja vu to previous losses in the series as Miami started off poorly on both ends of the floor. It has been a worrisome trend for the Heat as in the two games they recorded defeats, they usually begin the game in a slog which has been a point of emphasis.

This time around, the Heat just couldn’t make shots and the Celtics did to put it simply. However, it was White that was explosive in the first half where he had 22 points, 16 of them coming into the first period. While they couldn’t get anything going in the first frame, it was even worse in the second where they only made five shots from the field out of 22 attempts resulting in just 12 points.

More frustrating for fans, Boston wasn’t that much better to end the first half as they only scored 19 points, making seven shots from the field. Heat trailed by 17 at halftime as in total, they shot 35.6 percent from the field, and only made three of 16 from three.

If we’re going by the three-game sample size we have, the team that starts the game efficiently sets the tone and wins the game. For Game 4, Miami missed too many open shots and made too many self-inflicted wounds where when you play like that against the Celtics, you’re doomed to lose.

The missing of Heat’s best players were missed worse than ever

It was always going to be tough facing off against the Celtics in a playoff series this season as their roster is loaded with talent top to bottom and their regular season results were impressive. On paper, they played like one of the best teams ever where compared to the Heat, they had a tumultuous season filled with injury problems and inconsistencies.

However, then you pile that on with the injuries to Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier and your outlook doesn’t look good. While the Game 2 win gave fans some inch of hopefulness to make this a competitive series, the next two games at home showed just how outmatched they are against Boston.

The injuries of Butler and Rozier were missed more than ever as they were missing any explosiveness, play-making, and shot creation on offense, even with Herro on the floor who had another rough game. Even though the Heat have dealt with injuries all season and are arguably built to succeed without their best players, that aspect could only get you so far and it leads to an ugly series so far against the Celtics.

Miami’s playoff chances in serious danger

While it isn’t the end of the Heat’s playoff chances technically, the team is now down 3-1 in the series, putting them in no man’s land. There have been 13 teams in the history of the NBA to come back from that much of a deficit and comparing the two teams, it is very unlikely to happen.

If it does, it would be the biggest collapse of a 3-1 lead in NBA history because of how both teams are built on paper as the most famous occurrence was in the 2016 NBA Finals when LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors. That was definitely on a bigger stage, but one could argue that team had James and others while this Miami team is missing two integral players.

In the hopes of making this a competitive series, it would’ve been ideal to take one on your home floor after stealing one in Boston, but that’s not how the cookie crumbled. The Heat will look to keep their season alive as Game 5 will be on Wednesday at TD Garden.