The 5-year anniversary of Boston snapping Houston's 22-game winning streak, the Heat losing 10 straight regular season games in Boston, and the Celtics 11-game home winning streak.
The Heat (52-14) are just on another planet right now. Their streak rolls to 23 games after their toughest test yet. The Celtics (36-30) gave the Heat all they had, but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Heat, 105-103.
There was a lot of good to take away from this one, but let's remember two things: Kevin Garnett did not play, and the Celtics led by as many as 17.
Here's a recap of a wildly entertaining night from TD Garden:
The good:
* The first quarter was without a doubt the best quarter the Celtics have played all season. They played with a fire for all 12 minutes on both ends of the floor. Led by Avery Bradley's on-ball pressure, the Celtics defense stymied the Heat attack. Boston closed the quarter on a 17-0 run.
* Jeff Green played O.K....kidding. In what was arguably Green's best game as a pro, he led the Celtics in nearly every offensive category. His final line of 43 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists was last reached by...you guessed it, LeBron James, back in 2010. What made Green's performance all the more impressive was the fact that he spent 40 minutes covering the best player on the planet. He rose to the challenge and then some. Can't say enough about Green's epic night.
* Avery Bradley once again shut down Dwyane Wade. If the two are to meet again in the playoffs, the Heat should be wary of the fact that Bradley has taken Wade out of his element. Wade was held to 7-of-15 from the floor in 36 minutes.
* With the exception of the fourth quarter, the Celtics did a decent job of making life difficult for LeBron James. Throughout the course of the game, Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox, Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass shared time covering James. For 36 minutes, it worked.
* Avery Bradley's block on a Norris Cole layup was, in my opinion, the highlight of the year thus far. My jaw fell to the ground, and it took several minutes to come back up.
The bad:
* Now I see why Doc Rivers has a quick hook with Chris Wilcox. Wilcox made several huge mistakes on defense, and that caused Rivers to play Bass, who was in foul trouble for most of the night, more minutes. He screwed up on several occasions, especially on switches. He continued to leave Chris Bosh open around the basket and had many miscommunications on pick and rolls that led to open looks on the perimeter.
* Turnovers ended up killing the Celtics. I remember looking up at the Jumbotron and seeing the Celtics having 17 turnovers through three quarters yet still had an 82-78 lead. In the end, the turnovers came back to kill them. Miami scored 24 points off Boston's 21 turnovers.
* Boston let Miami score way too many easy baskets as the game went along. Too many times, James and Wade got to the paint and scored at the rim. Miami outscored Boston in the paint, 50-34.
The Celtics hit the road for a meeting with the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.
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