In Game 1, the Boston Celtics dominated the Miami Heat and led from beginning to end.

However, the Heat ensured that Game 2 would be different by putting on a strong show that included 13 lead changes and intense competition. The outcome was also different. Shorthanded and ranked eighth, the Heat overcame a 20-point deficit in Game 1 to stun the top-seeded Celtics on Wednesday night at TD Garden, defeating them 111-101 to secure home-court advantage and level the first-round playoff series at one.

The Heat accomplished this by shooting 23 of 43 (53.5%) from three-point range, setting a new team record for threes made in a playoff game. In addition, it ties for the second-most threes the Heat have ever made in a game. “After the win in Boston, Erik Spoelstra, the coach of the Heat, said, ‘It was a very good response just from the connectivity, the efforts, all of that.”

“After that, we took a few images as well. It usually appears better when you take several pictures of it. After trailing the Celtics by three points at the half, the Heat won 27-18 in the third quarter to seize the initiative and lead by six points going into the fourth quarter. The Heat took the lead for the remainder of the game and won the upset, going ahead by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter. Boston was limited to just 40 points by Miami in the second half.

Jimmy Butler (sprained MCL) and Terry Rozier (neck spasms) were two of the Heat’s finest players, but they were still able to muster enough points thanks to strong performances from everyone in the rotation.

Three Heat players scored more than 20 points, and five Heat players finished with double-digit points. With a career-high 14 assists and a team-high 24 points, Tyler Herro led the way for the Heat. Bam Adebayo contributed 10 rebounds, 9 of 13 field goals, and 21 points. With 21 points, Caleb Martin made 5 of 6 three-pointers. Jaylen Brown (33 points) and Jayson Tatum (28 points) combined for 61 points for the Celtics.

However, in Game 2, the remainder of the Celtics’ lineup only managed 40 points on 14 of 37 (37.8%) shooting from the field. Kristaps Porzingis, the center for the Celtics, was held to just six points on one of his nine field goal attempts. In Game 2, Boston was outscored by 32 points while Porzingis was on the court. The Celtics’ home loss on Wednesday was just their fifth of the season.

Boston had an NBA-best 37-4 record at home at the end of the regular season. “Getting one on the road is always a good thing, especially here,” Martin remarked. “Playing against a very tough team in this place is really difficult.” You’ll always attempt to take one, and we succeeded in doing so. The next two games of the series will now be played in Miami; Game 3 is scheduled for this Saturday at Kaseya Center (6 p.m., TNT and Bally Sports Sun). Five things to remember from the Heat’s Wednesday victory over the Celtics: The Heat reversed the course of events after being outscored by 30 points in the first game from three-point range. The Heat started Game 2 hitting a lot of threes in an attempt to tip the odds in their favor against a Celtics club that is notorious for attempting and making a lot of threes.

As a matter of fact, Miami made 16 of its first 20 attempts on Wednesday from three-point range. In the first half of Game 2, the Heat made a ton of threes as well, going 13 of 24 (54.2%) from beyond the arc to establish a new team mark for the most threes made in a playoff half. The Heat shot 10 of 19 (52.6 percent) from outside the arc in the last two quarters to break the franchise record for the most threes made in a playoff game on Wednesday with 23 made from beyond the arc.

The Heat continued to take and make threes in the second half. In addition, it was the highest number of three-pointers the Heat had made in a game this year. Regarding the Heat’s three-pointers in Game 2, Spoelstra stated, “Those are the available shots.” “Whether it is a hit or a miss, you have to have faith. We were doing that tonight. That’s the proper play, and you have to make it over and over and over again.

The Heat defeated the Celtics 69-36 as they shot 12 of 32 (37.5%) from beyond the arc. Herro made 11 attempts at three points for the Heat, a team record. Martin made five three-pointers. Additionally, three threes were made by Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. This season, the Heat have improved to 19-7 when they shoot more than 40% from three-point range.

In Game 2, the Heat’s amazing three-point shooting performance overcame the Celtics’ 46-26 advantage in paint share. Despite just having five opportunities at the rim on Wednesday, Miami prevailed. Adebayo and Herro took the lead and produced a memorable playoff moment for the Heat while Butler was out. Adebayo and Herro combined for 45 points on 26 shots in Game 2 after scoring 35 points on 31 shots together in Game 1.

Adebayo shot 8 of 11 in the paint, demonstrating his effectiveness in the paint. In addition to guarding Tatum for the majority of the game, he scored eight points on four of five shots in the fourth quarter. Spoelstra said Adebayo as “great when we needed to get it settled and he went right to his spot and was able to get some relief points for us.” Herro was the center of attention for the Heat’s offensive attack, leading the club in both scoring and assists with 24 points. It was the first postseason double-double he had completed with ten or more assists, and it was also his third overall.

Herro scored the majority of his points from beyond the arc, accounting for 18 of his 24 total points, including a team-high six made threes. He will be involved in some capacity, and depending on how we appear right now (without Butler and Rozier), that may mean consistently making the right play when it’s the right read, according to Spoelstra. “That’s what he did tonight.” In the 38 minutes that Adebayo and Herro shared the court in Game 2, the Heat defeated the Celtics by a score of 23 points. Adebayo described his playing partner with Herro as “I feel like we complement each other.”

Martin was possibly the Heat’s most valuable player during their series against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Martin’s performance in the second game of the series against the Celtics this year brought back memories of that period. Martin was capping the greatest basketball run of his life, almost precisely eleven months ago. In Game 7 of the previous season’s East finals at TD Garden on May 29, Martin scored 26 points on 11 of 16 field goals and 4 of 6 three-pointers. He also pulled down 10 rebounds, three assists, one steal, and 10 points. Martin shot an extremely effective 60.2 percent from the field and 22 of 45 (48.9 percent) from three-point range to average 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game in the East finals.

Martin came in second in the voting, but Butler was chosen the MVP of the East Finals. Martin’s most memorable play in the first game of this year’s playoff series against Boston, despite his meager four points, was his harsh foul on Tatum, which garnered criticism from the Celtics’ bench. Martin, though, moved above that to put together a Game 2 effort that was evocative of the East Finals from the previous season.

Following his harsh foul on Tatum in the closing seconds of Game 1, Martin was jeered by the Celtics supporters nearly every time he touched the ball. Nevertheless, on Wednesday, Martin made 12 field goals and scored 21 points. In addition to his five threes, he was in charge of two of the Heat’s five attempts from within the restricted area in Game 2. Martin is a competitor and the ultimate X factor, according to Spoelstra. He won’t necessarily score as many goals as he did this evening. He is the X factor among X factors, though. The Heat’s final two first-round selections are showing good early-postseason results.

After scoring 16 points in his NBA playoff debut on Sunday, Jaquez finished Game 2 with 14 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. With 5:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, he made a crucial three-pointer to increase the Heat’s advantage to nine points despite shooting just 4 of 13 from the floor overall. With 11 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block, Jovic concluded Game 2. In the first two games of the series, Jaquez and Jovic both got off to starts for the Heat. Butler is out with an injury, so Jaquez is starting in his place. Jovic has been playing as a full-time starter for the past few months.

The Heat escaped a predicament that few NBA teams have triumphed over with their surprising victory on Wednesday. Teams that have lost the first two games of a best-of-7 series have lost the series 92.1 percent (27–314) of the time going into this year’s playoffs. Fortunately, the Heat’s victory in Game 2 saved them from falling behind 0–2. The Heat has only once in franchise history lost the opening two games of a playoff series before mounting a comeback to win the series, which further illustrates the enormous odds it would have faced.

That occurred in the 2006 NBA Finals, when the Heat, led by the legendary Dwyane Wade, overcame a 2-0 series deficit against the Dallas Mavericks to win four straight games and capture their first-ever NBA championship.

The other six best-of-seven postseason series in which the Heat trailed 2-0 were lost. The fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers are leading the fifth-seeded Orlando Magic by a score of two games in the other series in the Heat’s part of the East bracket. In the second round, the Cavaliers-Magic series winner will square off against the Heat-Celtics series winner.

Check out the Miami Herald’s article about the Miami Heat (#storylink=cpy) about the NBA.