Boston Celtics At Miami Heat

For most veteran-heavy teams, it’s hard for them to want to play defense at an advanced age.

After taking one on the chin this weekend, the Celtics were frustrated enough to complain about Brad Stevens’ rotations.

The Celtics are surrendering an average of 114.0 points and 51.6 percent shooting – 40.6 from long range – over the last three games, and they’re 0-7 overall when opponents reach the century mark.

Despite putting up his first 30-point game of the season and rallying his team a couple times from second half double-digit deficits, Wade couldn’t push the Heat past the Celtics Monday night.

And when that energy carries over to the defensive end, you have nights like Friday at Madison Square Garden, when Anthony scored 11 points in the first quarter and did not score again.

Kevin Durant, selected Western Conference player of the week after coming back from a left hamstring injury, had 25 points.

Hassan Whiteside is bigger than any bigman on the Celtics roster, and the opportunity is there for him to dominate. What really hurt them was fouls.

The Heat often were lethargic with their early play, despite the Celtics being the team playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing Sunday in Orlando.

Sometimes, they’re a whole lot of fun. “They came up with every loose ball and every offensive rebound they got, they scored on or so it seemed”.

And that had a domino effect on Boston’s other shooters. Anthony added 3 rebounds, an assist, 1 steal and 1 block. 814 from the free throw line. Especially against such a strong defense, this is who the Celtics need to be: a rugged group that turns defense into offense.

Anthony is still the one who vacations in the summer with LeBron James, Wade and Clippers point guard Chris Paul.

Chris Bosh had 21 points and 10 rebounds to help lead the Heat, which got 20 first-half points from its bench but nothing else after the intermission. His 12 points in the frame kept things from breaking bad.

Whenever Boston’s lead looked shaky in the final minutes, Avery Bradley had an answer.

At the moment, the Heat are on top of the Southeast Division with a 9-5 record, while the Knicks are third in the Atlantic Division with an 8-8 record as they try to chase the leaders – the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics. Bradley is where the balanced effort started but others also followed suit.

Which reminds us – this isn’t the first time Bradley has stepped up and outperformed the future Hall-of-Famer. He scored another bucket, anticipated an entry pass for a steal, and cut the Celtics lead to three. Bosh scored 14 points in the second quarter, 16 in the half, and Wade not only added nine first-half points, but put on a vintage move, connecting on a step-back jumper after a fake sent Langston Galloway rolling to the ground.