Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat fall apart in the fourth quarter in Boston

Team Green was too mean, shooting down the visitors with a cascade of 3-pointers. Derrick White (9) and Sam Houser (5) were the main culprits of the Heat’s destruction, and the Celtics’ first six baskets of the fourth quarter were all treys.

It’s now six losses in the last seven outings, and their run-and-stun offense was disabled again. Of all the absences, which include Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell, the latter’s affected them the most. Mitchell’s dribble penetration and precise passing are stabilizing forces the team cannot lack.

Their only bright spots were that Kel’el Ware set a career-high in made triples (6) and was a powerhouse on the glass, showing he’s ready for more. Rookie Kasparas Jakučionis also made five 3-pointers with four assists against one turnover in his first career start.

Jaime Jaquez Jr., who doesn’t usually start, struggled early then had a stronger second half, making four deposits in the lane. But Bam Adebayo had a subdued performance, and Norman Powell possibly damaged the rim with all his missed 3-point attempts. The bench was abysmal, too, scoring 27 points on a scant 32.1% shooting.

The Celtics schooled the Heat, playing fast, scoring 210 points per 100 transition plays, good enough for the 100th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. On top of that, the Green held them to 36 points in the lane, which was 18 points below their average.

The Heat lost 129-116 after getting outscored by 10 in the fourth. Ten of Boston’s 13 field goals in the frame were triples, which was double the Heat’s.

The Heat badly need to get it together as they’ve dropped to 15-13 because somehow, as dull as they’ve been, they are only two games out of the third seed. Their offense needs a tweak since they’ve shown too many holes when they can’t go 100 miles per hour and need to be in the half-court.