NBA: Adebayo Stars In Miami Defeat
In their first meeting since the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat fell to the Boston Celtics, 119-111 in their second game of the new season on Friday.
Miami got off to a fast start, leading 26-13 lead in the first quarter, but Boston was able to respond with a 10-0 run to close the gap quickly. Boston then began to build an advantage on the offensive glass, leading to 23 second-chance points. To finish the game, Boston had a 16-11 offensive rebounding advantage.
It’s always great to see an aggressive Bam Adebayo, and against the Celtics, he made it known from the first quarter that he was going to be in attack mode.
While new Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis has a clear height advantage on Adebayo, Porzingis has nowhere near enough lateral quickness or speed to stay with Adebayo, leading to and-1’s and multiple fouls that led to Porzingis eventually fouling out. Adebayo also showed no hesitation tonight and was very decisive when he was going to shoot.
“At this point, it’s about getting to my spots and living with the results,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo was also tied with Butler tonight for the most free throws attempted with nine, highlighting Adebayo putting constant pressure on Boston’s front court and putting them in uncomfortable situations leading to trips to the charity stripe.
We all know the responsibility Adebayo has defensively, which makes his great offensive outings all the more impressive. Although it effort did not lead to a victory, more performances like that from Adebayo will greatly increase Miami’s success in the long run.
“If we just shored up those areas on the glass, I think we probably would have been in a position of control a little bit more often in that second half,” Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said in his postgame press conference.
To add to the Heat losing the rebounding battle, Jimmy Butler did not make his presence felt, finishing with 14 points on a 3-11 shooting performance.
