The Boston Celtics appeared to be in trouble for the first few minutes of the Eastern Conference finals.
Three quick 3-pointers were left open by them. The Heat were given multiple second-chance opportunities. Robert Williams looked uncomfortable defending in space, and Miami kept making him pay.
Grant Williams checked into the game at the 5 minute, 14 second mark of the first quarter. This game and this series fundamentally changed from that point forward.
The sellout crowd at FTX Arena was shell-shocked as Boston went on a 57-27 run in the final 17 minutes of the first half and never looked back.
The series was tied at a game apiece.
Williams has come a long way from his first year, according to the Celtics forward.
He sees an opening and takes it to the hole. That is what he did.
The Boston Celtics spent less than 48 hours between the end of their Game 1 loss to Miami and the start of their Game 2 loss to the Miami Heat. The Celtics lost the first game due to being down 39-14 in the third quarter.
Marcus Smart and Al Horford were both back in the lineup after missing Game 1 because of injuries.
Boston went away from the starting five midway through the first quarter and things didn't click into place for the Celtics. The Celtics had begun to climb back into things following a quick timeout by Celtics coach Ime Udoka, but it was Williams who arrived on the scene that dumped rocket fuel into Boston's play at both ends of the court.
They came out and hit us in the mouth, and we didn't know how to respond.
The Celtics were flying around the court. They hit 9 of 11 shots from 3-point range in the first quarter. They scrambled to Miami's shooters, forcing them to go 2-for-8 over the final few minutes of the first and final 20 minutes of the first half.
By the time the damage was done, Boston led 70-45 at halftime and the final 24 minutes were nothing more than an exercise to ensure this series headed back to Boston tied up.
Udoka said that the lineups were effective because they paced the floor well. Some of those guys are Tucker. Rob has his things that he does well but he has some limitations as well as spacing the court.
We saw success against Milwaukee and Brooklyn with the Al and Grant lineups. It created a lot of open shots, a lot of open 3s and he got going, but also opened up the lanes for our drivers.
Smart had a great performance at both ends of the court when he returned. While he is renowned for his defense, and earned laurels for it by snapping up the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award earlier this month, it was his offense that was missed in Game 1.
The Celtics went from committing 19 turnovers in Game 1 to just 10 in Game 2 for a total of nine Heat points. Smart finished with 24 points, 9 rebound and 12 assists, with just one turnover in 40 minutes.
The Celtics shot 51 percent from the field and 20 of their 40 attempts were for 3-point shots.
Smart said he takes a lot of pride in his point guard play. I was drafted to do that. I waited for my turn. I am blessed to be in this situation and have the chance to show what I can do, and I think everyone in the organization is seeing what I can do at that point guard position.
It was no coincidence that Boston's first-half dominance was not only at the offensive end, but also with Smart and Horford back on the court.
Horford was the primary defender in the first half and Miami was 0-for-4 with four turnovers. Smart was the last defender on Jimmy Butler, who demolished Boston in the first game of the series, on 28 of the 46 plays he was on the court. When Smart guarded him, he took just four shots.
In the second game, he scored 29 points on 11-for-18 shooting and took just eight free throws, compared to 18 in the first game.
Smart said that Jimmy has been doing this for a long time. He knows the game. He knows his strengths. He understands the strengths of his team. It is always going to be a tough match up when you have a guy like Jimmy.
My assignment was to make everything difficult for him. He was going to hit some shots. He had to work for them if he did. That is where I came in.
Miami was left scrambling to pick up the pieces. Through the first eight games of the series, the Heat have only won one quarter and have been outscored by 36 points.
Tucker left the game in the third quarter because of a left knee contusion and did not return, while Kyle Lowry sat out his fourth straight game because of a left hamstring strain.
Ask him, and he is good to go, according to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Boston knows its work is not done. After losing the first six games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics won two in a row to close out the series against Milwaukee and advance to the conference finals.
The Celtics are aware that they don't have the same luxury this time around against the Heat, as things shift back to Boston for Game 3 on Saturday night.
They tried to make us look bad. I think we need to realize that the game can get out of hand when you are playing against a really good team, that can score the ball and get stops, and that we need to use it as fuel.
We have a tough job to do to win over there. If they did it, we can do it as well.
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