Boston Celtics heat it up in Miami: 3 observations of encouragement

The Boston Celtics are giving fans a reason to be encouraged as the playoffs approach with a 112-102 victory over the Miami Heat Wednesday night.

Don’t let the Boston Celtics fool you.  The No. 4 seed and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs is important.

Tied with the Indiana Pacers entering Wednesday night’s game with the Miami Heat, the Celtics needed to keep pace with their first-round opponent.  Down both Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris along with playing against a desperate, hungry Heat team battling for a playoff spot, it did seem like a pretty good spot for the Celtics to drop a game.

That has actually been the trend of this year’s up-and-down squad who tend to play with a lack of urgency against lesser opponents.

That wasn’t the case on the back end of a home-and-home series with the Heat.  Behind Gordon Hayward and his 25-point effort, the Celtics found a way to solve Miami zone defense in route to a 112-102 win over the Heat.

Most importantly, the team did it led by their three veteran stars.  Kyrie Irving added 23 points and the suddenly resurgent Al Horford contributed 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

In a tight battle for most of the night, it was very encouraging to see the Boston Celtics not fold when the Heat went on runs.  They answered with timely shooting and timely defense in a playoff-type atmosphere against a team fighting for their playoff lives.

At 47-32, this is not the position fans or even the team themselves expected to find themselves in, however, the team is showing signs of encouragement which may just spark a deep playoff run.

Following the 112-102 victory against the Heat, here are three of those signs of encouragement.