Miami Heat at Boston Celtics

Comeback Heat do it again, rally past Celtics for 2-0 lead

Goran Dragic scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo led a big third-quarter rally to finish with 21, and the Heat pulled off another comeback to beat the Celtics 106-101 and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

"We got grit," Adebayo said. "That's about all I can tell you. We got grit, man."

Duncan Robinson scored 18 points, Jimmy Butler had 14, Jae Crowder 12 and Tyler Herro 11. The Heat were down by 17 in the second quarter and trailed by 13 at halftime.

"We like to make it hard on ourselves," Butler said. "We like being down double-digits and being the comeback kids."

Kemba Walker had 23 points for Boston, which got 21 apiece from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown missed a corner 3 that would have tied it with 15 seconds left, and Butler sealed it with two free throws with 7.4 seconds remaining.

The Celtics had a loud, animated conversation in their locker room postgame, the walls unable to hold in the sound. They tried to downplay whatever was happening afterward.

"It was nothing," Walker said. "It was nothing."

Added Tatum: "We're frustrated. But that's team sports. Not supposed to be happy we're down 0-2. But that's nothing out of the ordinary. Just talking about the game. It's cool."

"Feels exactly the same," Dragic said, when asked to compare Slovenia's golden moment to the Heat win Thursday. "A great day."

The Heat took a 2-0 series lead for the 11th time in coach Erik Spoelstra's tenure. They've won all previous 10 instances.

Game 3 is Saturday.

And then it all changed.

"We pulled apart and we didn't play well," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "And they did a good job. We're not beating this team if we're not completely connected on both ends of the court. So, got to get back to being that, which we've been at times. But right now, they're a better team. We're going to have to fight to get back in this series."

They showed some fight in the fourth. The Celtics went on a 15-2 run, silencing the Heat for nearly seven minutes and going up 94-89 on a 3-pointer by Walker with 4:25 left.

That only set the stage for another Heat rally: Miami finished the game on a 17-7 run.

"Team effort," Butler said.

TIP-INS

Heat: Spoelstra's 81st career playoff win ties him for eighth all-time with K.C. Jones. ... Miami's 20-point differential in the third quarter was a Heat record for that quarter in the playoffs, and the sixth time in Heat playoff history they outscored an opponent by at least 20 in any quarter. ... Robinson, who had been 2 for 9 on 3's in his last two games, made four in the first quarter and six in the game. ... Andre Iguodala couldn't play after halftime with back tightness.

Celtics: Gordon Hayward (ankle) remained out. ... Enes Kanter and Romeo Langford got first-quarter minutes after not playing in Game 1, but Langford left after about a minute with an adductor strain. Kanter had nine points and six rebounds in eight first-half minutes. ... Walker came in in a 5-for-35 slump from 3-point land, and went 4 for 11 Thursday.

3'S ARE WILD

SCHEDULE UPDATE

There will be a break between Games 3 and 4. Game 3 is Saturday; Game 4 won't be until Wednesday.

HBCU NIGHT

Roughly 100 students and alumni from more than 60 historically black colleges and universities got to watch (through the video screens) as part of the NBA's HBCU Virtual Fan Night. They also held a question-and-answer session with Philadelphia forward and Norfolk State University alumnus Kyle O'Quinn at halftime.

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Regular Season Series

BOS wins series 2-1