The Boston Celtics are shrinking right before our eyes. Disappearing. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown — all of them.
The Miami Heat are helping it happen.
Friday night in Boston was pretty amazing.
It didn’t take four overtimes like the Florida Panthers’ 3-2 marathon win in Carolina the night before.
This one just took a fourth-quarter domination — the Heat rising while the while the Celtics shriveled when it mattered most.
The 111-105 Heat victory gives Miami a 2-0 best-of-seven series lead in the NBA Eastern Conference finals heading to Miami for Game 3 Sunday night.
Boston infamously has not been a good home team in the playoffs lately — now 11-12 in the past 23 games. The Celtics also have been notoriously bad in close games, with Friday night the latest evidence. And has rookie coach Joe Mazzulla already slipped irrevocably into Beantown infamy?
Miami overcame a 12-point deficit, making this the sixth comeback win this postseason when down by 10 or more points.
“Desperation” is an overrated intangible, presupposing the team ahead in a series doesn’t want to win just as badly.
Boston had the desperation Friday night. Miami had that, and Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin (yes, Caleb Martin).
Butler was not vintage Playoff Jimmy but still too much for Boston, with 27 points. Martin, undrafted and undaunted, had 25. Adebayo had 22 with 17 rebounds.
Butler’s influence doesn’t always show on the state sheets. Protecting a 103-100 late lead, he took a charge by Tatum.
That helped the Heat in a home invasion steal the game with an 18-4 late run and finished it on a 24-9 run.
“We got some dogs,” Butler said afterward. “Guys never quit. We never give up.”
Here now is Miami’s historical advantage with a 2-0 series lead, what Boston was desperate to avoid but could not:
In NBA history in seven-game series since the current format kicked in in 1984, teams up 2-0 are 226-22 on advancing — or 91.1 percent. The Heat in their history are 17-0 when up 2-0. Never blown that lead, not ever.
At 1-1 heading home it would have been a coin flip.
Now, Miami has snatched Boston’s home-court advantage, with three of the last five possible games in the Heat’s house.
Mirroring the Panthers’ unexpected playoff run in hockey, the Heat’s run has been remarkable: From a No. 8 seed to now two wins away from the NBA Finals.
Starter Tyler Herro and key rotation reserve Victor Oladipo both remain out injured, and yet the underdog Heat keep surprising all who doubt them.
Whether the Panthers or the Heat are having the more astounding postseason run is open to debate.
And right now, the argument is a delight, with no losing side.
