The Miami Heat dropped a game to the Boston Celtics on Saturday by a final score of 101-89 at TD Garden.
The game was close until there were about three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. It was at this point that Boston opened things up and never looked back. A lot of the troubles for Miami can be attributed to turnovers as the Heat gave the ball away 20 times. The Celtics turned those turnovers into 12 points.
Goran Dragic continued his excellent second-half of the season with 21 points and 5assists. Playing without a true backup behind him, Dragic has stepped up and produced for Miami game-in and game-out over the past week.
Luol Deng posted his fifth straight double-double and now has accomplished the feat in every game of the second-half. Deng reached the double digit point total in the final minutes of play to keep the streak alive. The veteran had a total of 11 points and 12 rebounds in this loss.
Amar'e Stoudemire was given another start for Miami and began hot with a pair of early scores. As has been the case in most of Stoudemire's starts, he did not play much more over the duration of the game with 15 total minutes. The veteran would end up with six points and five rebounds.
Hassan Whiteside had an up-and-down second half where he appeared a little winded at times. After picking up a technical foul, Whiteside missed a dunk and turned the ball over. The young center would rebound from these moments however with a quick flurry of two blocks on one sequence with mere minutes to go. The down moments would resume afterwards however when Whiteside picked up a foul on a three-point attempt by Boston.
Whiteside who has played off the bench every game as of late ended up with another double-double as he tallied 13 points and 15 rebounds. As usual, Whiteside piled up the blocks with eight more which gives him an NBA-high 193 blocks this season.
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The Heat will need to rest up fast as they will travel to New York on Sunday for a game against the Knicks.
