Miami Heat blow early lead as Simons, Celtics storm back in fourth quarter

After a much needed win on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns, the Heat continued their three game homestand with a match-up against the Boston Celtics tonight.

The Heat were without two rotation pieces, as Davion Mitchell and Jaime Jaquez Jr both got banged up in the previous game.

Pelle Larsson jumped into that first unit for the night, as the Heat walked into a blazing start, getting out to an early 27-9 lead. That slowly deteriorated into the fourth quarter, where the Celtics battled back before regaining that lead before completing the comeback.

So let's discuss the main takeaways from this rough Heat loss tonight:

1. The Heat's hot start.

Jan 15, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta (88) defends against Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) during the first half at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

With many worried about a Celtics scoring pop that was seen in the first match-up, the Heat dominated that area tonight. The Heat's top four players came out the gate firing on the offensive end. Tyler Herro was working off screens and transition pull-ups from three, while dominating the floater through key first half stretches. Bam Adebayo picked up where he left off as well, scoring 17 points in the first half while his shooting touch has appeared to return. Andrew Wiggins has been so solid with his shooting from the perimeter, and did a great job defensively which I'll get into momentarily. When the Heat are in a rhythm like early tonight, they just look like a totally different basketball team. But as we know, there's always that eventual drop-off, as we saw much later.

2. Let's talk defense.

Jan 15, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic (5) battles Boston Celtics center Luka Garza (52) and guard Jordan Walsh (27) for a loose ball during the first half at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

Defending this Boston Celtics squad with the way they can bomb away from three is tough to scheme. Hard to prepare for where it's going to come from, as it was Anfernee Simons with 13 points off the bench in the first half. While the scoring popped early, the defense is what allowed the lead to be sustained in that second quarter. The Heat's plan was clear: we're going to switch, then switch some more, then switch some more. The Celtics cycle of ball screens had them going from Andrew Wiggins to Bam Adebayo to Dru Smith in a matter of moments. When the team is "guarding their yard" as Adebayo calls it, they can really wall teams up. The issue with that switching was the Celtics' dominance with second chance points, which is the pick your poison part of this scheme. Those relief points crept up, and the Celtics began finding the "right" match-ups off switches late, leading to another fourth quarter scoring run.

3. The fourth quarter.

Jan 11, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra gestures to his team during a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Even while walking into the fourth quarter with a ten point lead, it didn't feel safe. The Heat deployed their Jaime Jaquez-less second unit to begin the quarter, and the offense took a nose dive. Anfernee Simons led the Celtics back to down 2 with 5:30 left in the game, as a timeout was called. Big Celtics three after big Celtics three commenced, as they countered a Kasparas Jakucionis free throw line trip and big corner three. With 3:30 remaining, the Heat call timeout as they trail 109-105 after Derrick White gets fouled on an offensive rebound. The offense just continued to stall, as some makeable clutch time threes weren't dropping the way they were against Phoenix. All the clutch shots became tough and crowded floaters in the lane, which didn't drop for Herro nor Adebayo. Devastating fourth quarter.