Recap: Cs Drop First of Two in Florida Road Trip

The Celtics fell to a depleted Heat team by the score of 100-84 in what was a sub-par effort from the green. Miami completely controlled the pace of the game, holding the Celtics to 0 fastbreak points, well below their average of 17.1, which ranks 3^rd in the NBA. Miami was able to slow the game down and spread the floor, beating the Celtics with pick and roll offense.

Tyler Zeller had a nice game for Boston with 22 points (13 in the 3^rd) and 8 rebounds but the rest of the team struggled. Jeff Green shot 4 of 12, Marcus Smart 1 of 4 and Avery Bradley 2 of 10.

New additions Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson and Jae Crowder all made their debuts tonight. Nelson saw the most playing time (20 minutes) but scored only 3 points and shot 1 of 6 from the field. Wright played well in his limited time, scoring 6 points and grabbing 3 boards in just 13 minutes, while Crowder was 0 for 2 in his 7 minutes of action.

For Miami, Luol Deng picked up the slack for Wade and Bosh by scoring 23 points, while James Ennis gave Miami a lift with 16 points off the bench.

The Green:

Tyler Zeller: Zeller turned in a solid effort with 22 and 8, although most of his production came in the 3^rd Still, Zeller showed the ability that he can produce even without Rajon Rondo feeding him for easy baskets. 22 points in 24 minutes is a nice game for the young big man
Brandan Wright: Wright didn’t play a whole lot, but showed the abilities he’s going to bring when he’s fully acclimated to his new team. His ability to roll hard to the basket should produce easy baskets for the newly acquired big man as well as his teammates.

The Gross:

0 Fastbreak Points: A big question following the Rondo trade was how it would affect the Celtics pace of play. The Cs had no trouble getting up and down the floor against Minnesota, but allowed Miami to completely control the tempo of the game tonight. Marcus Smart and Jameer Nelson did not do a good enough job pushing the pace and helping the Cs get easy buckets. It will be interesting to see how much Phil Pressey plays going forward, as he is a player capable of speeding up the pace of the game
Avery Bradley: It was encouraging to see Bradley get a decent assist total again tonight to go along with his 7 rebounds, but the rest of his game was lacking. Bradley is now 2 of his last 25 from 3, dating back to the Washington game on December 8.
Jeff Green: The Celtics didn’t make a strong effort to get Green involved in the offense tonight, and Green did not make much an effort to get himself involved. In a game that was primarily played in the half court, you would have thought that the Celtics would have looked for their leading scorer a bit more.

The Greenlights