Miami Heat's Second-Half Rally Falls Short in 107-105 loss to Boston Celtics

At one point, it appeared the Miami Heat just may have pulled off the comeback.

Payton Pritchard of the Boston Celtics had other plans.

Pritchard scored on a put-back with two-tenths of a second left in the game to lift the Celtics to a 107-105 victory Wednesday in Miami. The Heat nearly rallied from a 17-point deficit.

“You figure it will be possession basketball going down the stretch," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "In the first half it didn’t look like it was going that way. They jumped us and they were playing very good basketball. They were knocking down some shots, driving us and offensive rebounding. We worked our way back into it. Our third quarter was where it should have been and in the fourth quarter it was just a game. They made some more shots down the stretch. Obviously those three threes. The offensive rebound there at the end. We just didn’t get a handle on it. It was just a tough way to go there at the end.”

Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 26 points while forward Duncan Robinson added 16 points. Center Bam Adebayo had 15 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 27 points and Jaylen Brown finished with 20. It was the first meeting between the team since last year's Eastern Conference finals. The Heat won that series 4-2 before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

“Whenever we play them, it is coming own to the last couple possessions pretty much always," Robinson said. "Unfortunate to come out on the wrong side of that one. It definitely felt like it wasn’t just that last play, but there were a lot of plays throughout the game that we could have been a lot tighter with, and better with, that would have made a difference.”

The Heat fell to 3-4 on the season, continuing their inconsistent start. After rallying from 17 down, they tied the score at 95 with 4:06 remaining. The Celtics responded with a 10-0 run to regain control.

Still, the Heat had one more run left. Robinson and Goran Dragic hit 3-pointers on their next three possession before Pritchard's basket ended the comeback bid.

The Heat fell to 3-2 at home this season. They have two days off before returning to the court Saturday to face the Washington Wizards and then a rematch with the Celtics Sunday.

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