The Miami Heat lost 103-91 to the Boston Celtics today, their sixth straight loss. Although Andrew Wiggins effectively limited Celtics star Jayson Tatum on the defensive end, the Heat’s overall lack of strength kept them from coming back.
The loss of Jaylen Brown, the Celtics’ second core, to injury put more pressure on Tatum on the offensive end. However, against Wiggins, who had locked himself up in the 2022 Finals, Tatum was not quite as good. Tatum made just two of seven shots in the first quarter, including 1 of 4 3-pointers, and scored just seven points. Wiggins, on the other hand, made two of his five shots, scoring four points and dishing out two assists and a steal.
Coming into the second quarter, Wiggins continued to defend Tatum well, holding Tatum to five points and no assists. It also led Tatum to finish the first half with 12 points on just three of 11 shots. Wiggins, for his part, finished the first half with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, hitting 6 of 10 shots, including 1 of 5 3-pointers.
However, Tatum’s touch picked up in the third quarter, scoring nine points. Meanwhile, the Celtics’ Josh Holiday was on the offensive end, scoring 25 points by the end of three quarters. That gave the Celtics the lead at the end of the third quarter. Wiggins also played well in the third quarter, hitting seven of 13 shots to finish with 17 points, three rebounds three assists, and three steals.
The Celtics, led by their second unit, went on an 8-2 run to stop the Heat late in the quarter. Although Wiggins came back after the steal to put his score at 20, his defence of Tatum wasn’t enough to keep the Celtics from going ahead. In the end, the Heat lost 103-91 to the Celtics, suffering their sixth straight loss.
In 37 minutes, Tatum made eight of 21 shots, including 5 of 12 3-pointers, and finished with 28 points, five assists, four rebounds and five turnovers on 38.1 percent shooting. Wiggins made 9 of 21 shots, including 3 of 8 3-pointers, for 23 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals, but also committed four turnovers and shot 42.9 percent in 37 minutes. Despite Wiggins’ defensive brilliance, the Heat’s overall lack of strength kept them from winning the game.
