As we cross the bridge from the Heat’s smackdown of the Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals to Thursday night’s Game 2, can we get one thing straight first?
It’s absurd to take any solace in the fact that the Celtics “won” three quarters Tuesday night. Absurd to the point that I can’t believe the usually clear-eyed Ime Udoka even acknowledged that his team outscored the Heat in three of the four quarters, as if it carried some sort of relevance.
The third quarter was such a massive debacle — the Heat left the Celtics in a smoldering heap, outscoring them, 39-14, to turn an 8-point halftime deficit into a comfy 17-point advantage — that it renders moot anything positive that happened before or after.