BOSTON — Apparently the gulf between the Heat and Celtics isn’t nearly as wide as the standings would suggest.
After Jaylen Brown forced overtime with a miraculous 30-foot bank shot in the final seconds of regulation, the Heat regained the edge that fueled their second-half comeback and beat the Celtics, 120-116, in a delightfully entertaining game on Friday to split their two games in Boston this week.
This much appears clear: The margin between the teams isn’t as big as the seven games that separate the Celtics (18-5) and Heat (11-12) in the standings.
After competing toe to toe with Boston for 3 1/2 quarters without Jimmy Butler on Wednesday, the Heat rallied from 13 down to win for the second time on this three-game road trip.
Down 83-70 in the third, the Heat unleashed a 26-8 run to surge ahead 96-91 with 7:16 left.
Jayson Tatum then missed a difficult driving shot and Butler hit an 11-foot jumper to put Miami ahead 108-105 in the final minute of regulation. A Tatum dunk trimmed the Heat’s lead to 108-107 with 29 seconds to go.
But then Butler made it a three-point game with a 20-footer with 5.1 seconds left. And then Brown ruined everything with his miraculous 3-pointer, forcing overtime.
After Butler put the Heat ahead with a 12-foot jumper with less than two minutes remaining overtime, Brown missed a jumper, and Tyler Herro was called for traveling, before two Brown free throws tied it.
But Bam Adebayo — who scored 22 points after intermission — then put the Heat ahead with two free throws with 40 seconds to go. Tatum then missed a 3 with 32 seconds to go, and Butler then hit a 17-footer to seal it with nine seconds remaining.
Butler (25 points, 15 rebounds) was outstanding after missing seven games with a sore knee.
Adebayo (28 points), Herro (26) and Kyle Lowry (20) provided a huge lift offensively in the second half, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra stuck with Haywood Highsmith in overtime because of his defense.
A night after the Heat allowed 134 points, Miami played much better defensively, forcing 20 turnovers that led to 20 Heat points.
Two nights after scoring 49 points, Tatum scored just 14, making 5 of 18 shots and missed all seven of his 3-pointers. Brown scored 37, but that wasn’t enough to overcome balanced Heat scoring, with four Heat players topping the 20-point mark.
Lowry scored 15 in the second half before fouling out with 1:02 left in overtime and the Heat ahead by two
The Celtics, the league’s best 3-point shooting team at 40.3%, opened 2 for 12 on 3s on Wednesday before making their next seven to go to the half with a 62-59 lead.
But Boston closed at 33.3% on 3s (15 for 45), below its 41% mark for the season.
Two nights after Adebayo complained about the disparity in free throws in Wednesday’s game (23 attempts for Boston, nine for Miami), the Celtics again got to the line more — 28 times, compared with 18 for the Heat.
The Heat now move on to Memphis for a Monday game before returning home Tuesday to play Detroit.
