Heat’s mightiest heroes from stunning Game 2 upset of Celtics

When Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin were on the court, the Heat excelled.

Martin posed a plus-15 plus/minus while Herro finished with a plus-21, making both of them huge assets for the game. Both players were in the starting lineup, which allowed the Heat to get off to a strong start from the jump, especially knowing it didn’t have its star player.

Herro has had his ups-and-downs between cold streaks and injuries — only appearing in 42 regular-season games this year — but in the games he did play, he notched an overall 3-point percentage just 0.3 percentage points worse than his career high. He hasn’t hit the 40 percent mark that every elite shooter strives to find, but he more than exceeded it against Boston.

The guard finished with 24 points on 6-for-11 shooting from behind the arc to pair with a staggering 14 assists in his team’s victory. He was one of the biggest reasons for Miami’s victory, but he also wasn’t the only one.

In fact, his impact was only multiplied by Martin.

Martin wasn’t responsible for assists the way that Herro was, but he understood his role and played it extremely well. To go along with his strong on-ball defense — where he snagged a steal to up his defensive stats — Martin knocked down five 3-pointers and missed just once, which earned him strong credit from his coach following the contest.

“He’s a competitor,” Spoelstra said of Martin in his postgame presser. “He’s the ultimate X factor. … the X factor of X factors.”

The guard-forward duo made up 11 of the Heat’s 23 3-pointers on the night, catalyzing the rest of their team to do the same, which ultimately led to a strong offensive showcase that Boston just couldn’t keep up with.

But the Celtics’ loss wasn’t solely due to strong shooting from the Heat.

It also had to do with coaching.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

Miami was outscored by the Celtics by 30 points on 3-pointers alone in Game 1.

Boston simply couldn’t miss, leaving the Heat scrambling to keep up, but unable to do so in what became an exhausting game of catch-up. A big part of that was its own woes from beyond the arc — it went just 12 of 37 on the night — but also a defensive fault that allowed Boston to shoot however many 3s it wanted, which has been a staple of its game all year long.

So, Spoelstra made a change.

“You have to take them based on how they were playing us (in the first game),” Spoelstra said of the clear disparity between 3-point baskets made. “I did not want to get annihilated in that department like we did the game before.”

With Bam Adebayo — one of this season’s Defensive Player of the Year finalists — anchoring Miami’s defensive unit, he made sure to place heavy emphasis on stopping Boston from making shots beyond the arc. And it worked.

While Miami was busy tying a franchise record for 3-point makes, Boston not only shot less than the amount of 3s it had averaged all season, but it only made 12. Suddenly, the Heat outscored the Celtics by 33 points on 3-pointers alone.

That’s what made the difference.

Miami proved that without Jimmy Butler, it was possible to win a game. It wasn’t easy, but it didn’t need to be. Between the defensive adjustment and players like Herro and Martin stepping up, the Heat played a game it was proud of while giving itself a chance at the series if it could protect its home court. It put itself in a position to be competitive.

Now, as the series heads back to Miami, more heroes will be waiting for their chance to shine.