Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have positioned Boston for success for years to come, with their youth serving as a tantalizing indicator of what could ultimately be possible. But during these conference finals the Heat have answered with their own wunderkind, and on Wednesday the Celtics had no answer for him.
The 20-year-old rookie Tyler Herro made 14 of 21 shots and scored a game-high 37 points, leading Miami to a 112-109 Game 4 win and a 3-1 series lead that puts Boston one loss from elimination.
“It’s not over,” Brown sad. “It can be done.”
Tatum was scoreless during a miserable first half before bouncing back with 28 in the second, but it was not enough. The Celtics committed 19 turnovers.
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A layup by Herro gave the Heat a 107-98 lead with 57.8 seconds left. But Tatum and Brown answered with consecutive 3-pointers to slice the deficit to 3.
After Herro hit a pair of free throws, Kemba Walker was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three of his attempts, pulling Boston within 109-107 with 9.2 seconds left. But Butler answered with two more free throws. Walker missed a 3-pointer at the other end and Gordon Hayward’s tip-in with 1.9 seconds left was just a bit too late.
Observations from the game:
▪ Heat center Bam Adebayo appeared to hurt his left hand or wrist when he tangled with Tatum under the hoop late in the fourth quarter. He stayed in the game, but he was clearly in a great deal of pain and hardly used his left hand at all in the final minutes, spending much of the time with it dangling by his side.
After the game Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was somewhat cryptic about the injury. He did not describe what had happened or how Adebayo was feeling, saying only that the Heat center was icing his body. Of course, it would be a colossal loss for Miami in this series if he is sidelined. The All-Star has been dominant in this series and he tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds Wednesday.
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▪ The turnovers were a disaster for the Celtics, particularly in the fourth quarter, when they committed seven. The puzzling part was that Boston actually seemed to do well finding openings in Miami’s zone in the second half. But the accuracy of key passes to close out a possession was poor.
“We tried to make huge plays against the zone, and a couple of times I thought we tried to split through small seams,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “A couple Jimmy [Butler] just read the pass. It’s easy for me to say be tough with the ball, be strong with the ball, but those guys are tremendous with their hands when you put [Andre] Iguodala and Jimmy at the top of that zone. We have to do a better job of handling the ball, got to do a better job of taking care of it.”
▪ The first half was one of the worst of Tatum’s pro career. He’s had bad shooting games before, but usually doesn’t miss as badly as he did in this stretch. He was 0 for 6 and scoreless, but the more concerning part for the Celtics was that he just appeared disengaged. The attack mentality he has had for most of these playoffs was simply nonexistent. He remained scoreless until he hit a 3-pointer with 6:47 left in the third quarter, and then he mostly could not be stopped.
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Tatum poured in 28 points over the final 19 minutes of the game. On one hand, it was a critical and promising response that should give him confidence heading into Game 5. On the other, the first half slog was damaging.
“I wasn’t aggressive enough,” Tatum said. “I didn’t score in the first half. That’s unacceptable. So I knew I had to play better, and that’s what I tried to do.”
▪ The Heat won despite making just 10 of 37 3-pointers, which should concern the Celtics. Without Herro, that number drops to 5 for 27. But Herro saved his team when it seemed like no one else could score. After a Daniel Theis dunk gave the Celtics an 85-84 lead, their first since the opening half, the Heat scored 7 straight, capped by Herro’s 3-pointer from the key and a reverse layup that helped stretch Miami’s lead back to 91-85. It never trailed again.
“Herro was ridiculously good tonight,” Stevens said. “The rim must have looked like the ocean to him.”
▪ Tatum picked up his fourth foul with three minutes left in the third quarter but stayed in the game and closed the period with a mid-range jumper and a pair of 3-point plays. Stevens usually does not respond to foul trouble, and he was surely glad he didn’t in this spot, either. Tatum had 16 points in the quarter. The Celtics certainly needed more from him early, though.
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“He was, for whatever reason, I thought in the first half just struggling to find the net,” Stevens said, “and then it only takes a great player once or twice to get their confidence rolling.”
▪ The Heat entered the free throw penalty with 8:28 left in the third quarter and Adebayo once again made them pay, overpowering Boston and drawing three fouls over the rest of the period, resulting in six free throws.
▪ The Celtics trailed, 91-85, with 6:41 left when Stevens went with his “best five” lineup of Tatum, Walker, Brown, Hayward, and Marcus Smart for most of the stretch run. Unlike in Game 3, though, this group didn’t have any magic. The Heat consistently looked to attack inside and took advantage of the size differential.
“Those guys did a good job against that lineup,” Stevens said. “They just chose some matchups to go after and Butler came off the screens and made some plays, so we’ve got to do a better job with all our lineups. Certainly that one has had its moments, but we looked small, I will say that.”
▪ It was exacerbated by poor shooting, but the first half felt like a preseason game. Play on both sides just seemed scattered and uninspired. These teams have been in the bubble a long time, and there was an unusual three-day break after Game 3, so maybe that caused some sluggishness. Regardless, it was a bizarre feel for a conference finals matchup.
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Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.
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