Anfernee Simons erupts to power massive Celtics comeback in win over Heat
Anfernee Simons delivered his finest performance in a Celtics uniform Thursday night, scoring 39 points in 34 minutes to carry Boston to a come-from-behind victory over the Miami Heat.
The Celtics trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half and 13 in the third quarter before rallying for a 119-114 win at the Kaseya Center. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Joe Mazzulla’s squad, which looked sluggish and sloppy for much of the night.
Simons’ season-best scoring effort off the bench offset quiet nights from starting guards Derrick White (eight points, 1-of-7 shooting) and Payton Pritchard (two points, 1-of-4). Jaylen Brown struggled early after missing Monday’s loss to Indiana with low back spasms but came on strong in the second half to finish with 27 points on 9-of-24 shooting
The Celtics will continue their four-game road trip Saturday night in Atlanta, where they’re scheduled to face old friend Kristaps Porzingis for the first time since his offseason trade.
Whether the former Celtics center will be available for that game remains to be seen. Porzingis, who’s battled several different ailments this season, sat out the Hawks’ last four games with Achilles tendonitis.
Boston got points on two of its first three possessions — a pair of rare two-point makes by Hauser, who takes 90% of his shots from 3-point range — then went cold for nearly five straight minutes. The Celtics did not score again until Brown hit a three at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter.
Miami, meanwhile, had little trouble doing so against a disjointed Boston defense. The Heat ripped off a 15-0 run after Hauser’s early buckets and built an early 28-9 lead, triggering two Joe Mazzulla timeouts and a series of Celtics substitutions.
Turnovers were an issue for Mazzulla’s troops — they had seven of those in the first 13 minutes, including five by Brown and White — as was finding ways to defend Bam Adebayo. The Heat big man scored 10 first-quarter points, finding success against both Neemias Queta and Luka Garza.
But once Miami’s lead reached 19 points, Boston began to stir. The Celtics outscored the Heat 16-8 over the final five minutes of the first quarter, with all of their points coming from bench players. Simons had 11 of those via three 3-pointers and a drawn foul on a pull-up jumper. Garza, who came in shooting a team-best 51.2% from deep, canned a straightaway three and flipped in a second-chance layup.
Jordan Walsh grabbed three offensive rebounds in his first six minutes of floor time. Shortly thereafter, he sprinted back to block a Tyler Herro layup, then turned an offensive board by Baylor Scheierman into a driving dunk. Walsh’s slam cut Miami’s lead to 38-32 early in the second quarter.
The Celtics’ 64-54 halftime deficit looked like a manageable margin considering Brown, White and Payton Pritchard combined for just 11 total first-half points while Miami shot 51% from the field (43% from three). Bench scoring and offensive rebounding kept Boston in the game. Its 22 second-chance points were the most by a Celtics team in any first half since the NBA began tracking that stat in 2018.
Brown upped his output in the third quarter with 15 points, including seven free throws. But his co-stars remained quiet, and Miami padded its lead. With two minutes left in the third, the Heat were up 15 against a Celtics team that still looked a step slow.
The C’s staged another bench-led comeback, however, with Simons giving his team the juice it needed. He stole a Herro pass and scored the final five points of the third quarter, capping it with his fifth 3-pointer of the night. Then, he poured in 11 points in the first six minutes of the fourth, with a chase-down rim contest thrown in for good measure.
Simons, whose much-improved defense has drawn rave reviews from Mazzulla, cut Miami’s lead to four with a nifty scoop layup, then to two with a tough turnaround jumper. Mazzulla then called a timeout to reinsert Brown, who’d watched Simons’ fourth-quarter barrage from the bench, and Hauser buried a three to give Boston its first lead since the opening minutes, 101-100, with 5:21 remaining.
Brown and Simons hit 3-pointers on the next two Celtics possessions, and White added two free throws after drawing a foul on an offensive rebound.
The Celtics led 111-107 with less than two minutes to play when Garza put up a shot from the corner. His 3-pointer missed the mark, but Hauser zipped in for a tip-in. Initially ruled offensive goaltending, the basket was awarded after a video review, putting the Celtics up six and securing their second-largest comeback victory of the season.
