Too much "O": Heat 109, Celtics 101

Playing without Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, the Celtics jumped out to an early 13-5 lead. From there, it was all downhill.

Boston (40-39) fought from start to finish, but they fell to the Heat (63-16) tonight 109-101 behind a dominant offensive performance by Miami's supporting cast.

Seven Heat players scored at least 9 points. Miami's bench outscored Boston's bench 42-14. Hell, Rashard Lewis led all bench players with a season-high 19 points. If Rashard Lewis is scoring that many points, you know you're in trouble.

Here's a recap:

The good:

* Jeff Green returned to form, scoring a team-high 25 points on 10-of-17 from the floor. He also pulled down 8 boards. Green made Celtics fans' hearts stop for a moment in the third quarter. Green went up for a dunk midway through the third quarter and fell awkwardly on his left arm. He was diagnosed with a bruised left elbow, and coach Doc Rivers said after the game that he expects Green to be ready for tomorrow's game.

* Brandon Bass played extremely well tonight. Bass finished with 17 points on an efficient 6-of-9 and also grabbed 9 rebounds. Bass was aggressive all night and constantly battled for boards with Miami's bigs. Such a good sign for the Celtics going forward.

The bad:

* The Celtics are now 1-8 in their last 9 road games, which is not a good sign for a team without homecourt advantage in the playoffs.

* Boston started off well in the paint, driving to the hoop and getting easy buckets at will. In the third quarter, they seemed to shy away from that. Boston shot way too many jumpers in the third. As a result, they shot only 39% for the quarter.

* Way too many open shots for Miami in the third quarter, and a lot of those open looks came from miscommunications on defense. Jordan Crawford, Jason Terry and Terrence Williams were the main culprits of that.

* Speaking of Terry, he had an atrocious game. Terry finished with 6 points in 28 minutes on 3-of-9 shooting. He also had 4 turnovers. The Celtics need Terry to get going before the playoffs.

* The 41 points scored by Miami in the second quarter were the most points the Celtics have allowed in a single quarter all season. It was also the highest scoring quarter of the season for the Heat.

Boston is back at it tomorrow when they take on the Orlando Magic. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.