After a rough first half in which the Celtics were 1 for 20 from three, Boston rode a strong third quarter to beat the rival Miami Heat, 98-96. It was one of the biggest comebacks of the season for the Celtics, who trailed by 21 at halftime. It was a great game for the newest Celtic, Nikola Vucevic, who had a double-double in his Celtics debut.
The Celtics had everyone active for this game, outside of Jayson Tatum. They started Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown, Luka Garza and Neemias Queta as the double big lineup from Wednesday returned on Friday. Nikola Vucevic came off of the bench in his debut. The Heat were missing Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier. They started Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Bam Adebayo.
It was a slow start for the Celtics as the Heat opened up a 13-2 advantage 3 minutes into the game. It was a slow start for the Celtics as they started 1/6 from the field and 0/3 from three.
Nikola Vucevic checked in at that point, making his official Celtics debut.
His passing was on full display on the offensive end as he made a couple of pretty passes that lead to Celtics baskets. His defense was not great but Adebayo made a bunch of threes but you will live with that because he won’t make those the whole game.
It was a rough quarter, as the Heat led 29-15. Baylor Scheierman led the team with 5 points off the bench while no one else had more than 2 points.
The Celtics missed 16 of their first 17 threes of the game while the Heat made 7 of their first 15 threes. It was just that kind of start for Boston as the Heat led 42-22.
Jaylen Brown woke up in the 2nd, scoring 15 points after just 2 in the first. He was great, but the rest of the team was not, scoring just 8 points in the quarter. They shot 1/20 from three and trailed 59-38.
The double big didn’t work in this one. It really cramped the spacing, Garza is not a good enough shooter to be spaced in the corner and get any respect. All of his value comes from the pick and pops and crashing the glass. With Queta out there it doesn’t work as well.
On defense, it put Queta on Davion Mitchell on the perimeter, pulling him away from the basket. He got roasted a few times as Mitchell got to the paint with ease.
They traded for Vucevic, that might leave Garza without a role. He’s been awesome for about 2 months now, but Vuc is a better player than Garza is. He will play a role in some games, even if it is not every night.
The Celtics went away from the two-big look and went on a run to cut the Miami lead to 12 at 67-55 with 5:03 to go in the third quarter.
Then the Celtics really got going, cutting a 67-49 game to a 70-67 game and a Miami timeout. Vuc was making plays, with back to back layups and a pair of free throws to a one score game.
Boston took the lead, but a Norman Powell buzzer beater tied the game at 74. It was a dominant third quarter for the C’s. They outscored the Heat 36-15 in the period and flipped a 21-point game to a tied game. Jaylen Brown led the team with 24 points and Nikola Vucevic had a double-double off of the bench.
The fourth quarter got off to a back and fourth start as the Heat continued to hang around. It was the Payton Pritchard Show for the Celtics as he scored 10 of the Celtics first 14 points of the quarter.
After getting tied up with Bam Adebayo on for a jump ball, Jaylen Brown won the tap and it led to a Derrick White three to give the Celtics a two point lead 98-96 with under 2 minutes to go. It ended up being the last score of the game.
With 40.2 seconds to go in the game, Jaylen got called for an offensive foul for elbowing Andrew Wiggins in the face. Joe Mazzulla challenged the call but did not win the challenge and the call stood.
On the next possession, Derrick White had a huge block on Davion Mitchell who drove to the rim. The Celtics had the ball with a chance to ice the game but Derrick’s shot was just a tad long and Miami got the ball down 2 with 8 seconds to go.
The Heat got the ball to Andrew Wiggins who drove the ball and passed it to a wide open Mitchell, who missed a really good look. The ball was tipped out of bounds by Adebayo and the Celtics advanced it with .7 left. Boston inbounded the ball and won the game 98-96.
Davion Mitchell MISSED a WIDE OPEN 3 to win the game 😭💀 pic.twitter.com/Pg0WcUgVCK
— Logion Noops (@LogionNoops) February 7, 2026
Jaylen Brown led the team with 29 points, Payton Pritchard had 24 off of the bench, Nikola Vucevic had 11 points and 12 rebounds also off the the bench and Baylor Scheierman was a team best +17.
The Celtics shot 42% from the field and 28% from three while the Heat shot 42% from the field and 33% from three. Boston’s next game is Sunday afternoon before the Super Bowl at 12:30 EST time from TD Garden against the New York Knicks.
