After going down 0-2, the Celtics came up with a big win to avoid certain elimination. They changed up their game style, from passively shooting the ball to driving into the paint and drawing fouls, as was seen from early in the game. They also had a very impressive field goal % of 48%, which was much higher than their last game. Boston was quick to change the narrative of the series, where they would perform incredibly well in the first half, and then let Miami jump up and above to take the win later in the game.
The Celtics' box score says it all: four players with 20+ points and only 14 turnovers in total, in comparison to 20 last time out. The Heat also put up a good effort although their main scorers were not performing nearly as good as usual. Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic, the top-two scorers for the Heat, only combined for 28 points on 8/23 shooting. Dragic, especially, was having a rough night and only had two made field-goals; the rest of his points came from the charity stripe.
Boston's defense was highly effective throughout the game, as they held Miami to a field goal percentage of 46%, while they themselves had 53% of their shots going in. But what was the most impressive part about the Celtics' game was their perimeter defense. They held Miami, one of the better three-point shooting teams, to only 27% from beyond the arc. Considering that the Heat have sharpshooters in Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson, that is an astonishing feat.
As of now, Boston is looking forward to Game 4 where they can hopefully win and use that momentum to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.