Inside The Heat

Miami Heat Using Two Off Days To Decompress Before Game 2 Against Boston Celtics

Apr 21, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA;  Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo controls the ball as Boston Celtics' center Al Horford - Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports
Apr 21, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo controls the ball as Boston Celtics' center Al Horford - Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports | Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Heat are still stinging from Sunday's 20-point loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their first-round series in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The positive is the Heat have plenty time to prepare for avoiding a repeat. They have a full two days to process what happened in the opener at TD Garden.


"Two days to prepare, that's a lot of time to get mentally and physically ready," Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez said. "I know the coaching staff is going to work really hard to figure out the game plan. Us asplayers, we're going to get ready as best we can to execute it." 

For starters, the Heat need to work on finding a way to prevent the Celtics from scoring at the perimeter. They made 22 of 49 from the 3-point line. The Heat, who pride themselves on defense, will atttempt to fix that first before tackling their offensive woes.

The biggest problem on that side of the ball was guard Tyler Herro. He finished with just 11 points while shooting 4 of 13 from the field. The Heat need more from him because they are playing without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, who are both injured.

"I'm sure a lot of us wish we could play [today]," Heat forward Caleb Martin said. "But we've got to get back to the drawing board and got some things to figure out. It gives us another or two to let things settle in ... Sometimes, you need to feel a loss like that to come with a better approach." 


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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star. TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here