yahoo - 2/7/2026 2:17:10 PM - GMT (+2 )
The Celtics scored 38 points in the first half and were down by as many as 22 points. It looked like it was going to be a blowout, but something lit a fire under this team at halftime because Boston came out and scored 36 points in the third quarter alone t0 tie the game going into the fourth. In a back and forth final quarter where both teams were doing everything they could to win, the Celtics were able to come out on top with a Derrick White three at the 1:31 mark to give Boston a 98-96 win.
Overall, they shot 14-47 (30%) from the field in the first half and 21-37 (57%) in the second half. This 22-point comeback was the biggest comeback win of the season for Boston and it showed the resiliency that this team has. The lineup of Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Baylor Scheierman, Sam Hauser, and Nikola Vucevic came together and went on a heater to bring the Celtics kicking and screaming back into this game.
Really brought the HEAT in the second half 🔥 pic.twitter.com/oQ3R9hEthZ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 7, 2026
Boston shot 1-20 (5%) from three in the first half of this game and it was the worst three point shooting first half in the Joe Mazzulla era. The last time the Celtics made only one triple in a first half before tonight was on January 11th, 2024 against the Milwaukee Bucks when they shot 1-16. There was a chance that Boston was going to continue this slow shooting stretch, but they caught fire in the third quarter. The Celtics shot 5-7 from three in the third quarter and 9-16 from three in the second half as a whole. The three-point shot has been the common denominator in a lot of the Celtics close games this season and it once again showed tonight. Once Boston was started knocking down their threes, everything fell into place after that.
Nikola Vucevic played his first game of the season as a member of the Celtics since the trade deadline and he made a huge first impression for his debut. Vucevic finished with a double-double of 11 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals on 4-8 shooting.
He scored his first points of the night after Pritchard missed a shot and Bam Adebayo fumbled the rebound. Vucevic just grabbed it and flipped it up for an easy floater and his first points as a member of the Boston Celtics.
Vucevic then started to turn it on in the third quarter when the Celtics were making their run. He scored three times in the paint on Miami, just abusing their interior defense. He started by rolling out of a pick and roll with Derrick White. Two Heat defenders went to White so he fired a pass to Vucevic for a layup. The second basket came when he was backing down Dru Smith in the post. Pritchard found him and Vucevic missed his first attempt but was able to finish on a tap back on his second try. The final basket came when he had great positioning on Jamie Jaquez Jr. and White found him again for another layup.
Another thing that really surprised me from Vucevic’s debut was how great of a passer he was. All of his assists looked like fastballs coming 100 miles per hour and all of them were right on target. The first one came after he tapped an offensive rebound to himself and threw a crosscourt pass to Baylor Scheierman for a long two. The next came when he found Hugo Gonzalez cutting to the basket and threw a strike right to his hands for a dunk. The third came in the second quarter when he got the ball in the post and two Heat defenders went after him. Vucevic calmly found Derrick White who was cutting to the basket from the top of the three-point line and he finished with an easy dunk. Finally, on the game winning basket, Vucevic put the ball on the floor and found White for a wide-open corner three to give Boston the lead with under two minutes to go. Overall, this was a great showing out of Vucevic and the Celtics did a great job of incorporating him into the offense.
4. Jaylen Brown Kept Boston in the GameJaylen Brown finished with 29 points and 7 rebounds on 11-25 shooting and didn’t have his best game of the season. However, when the Celtics were down big at the half, without Brown turning it on the second quarter, they would have been down by a lot more. Brown had 15 of the Celtics 23 points in the second quarter, shooting 6-10 and doing everything in his power to keep Boston in striking distance.
Brown started his scoring barrage with a layup after sealing of Andrew Wiggins on the drive to the basket. Next came on a thunderous slam where he blew by Wiggins and attacked the rim. The third bucket came when he had Bam Adebayo one-on-one. He drove and threw up a floater that went in plus the foul for an And-1. The next one came where he took it coast-to-coast for an easy layup over Simone Fontecchio. The fifth came where he overpowered Davion Mitchell and finished another easy layup. Finally, he got the ball at the perimeter, blew by Mitchell, and threw down another dunk.
The fourth quarter was the next time Brown came up big, starting with a play that got broken up by the Heat defense. Brown was able to get it back and take the contact from Adebayo to finish a floater that should have been an And-1. The other big bucket came at the 2:16 mark where he scored the second to last basket of the game for the Celtics, driving into Norman Powell and finishing a tough shot.
5. Payton Pritchard Huge Second HalfAt the end of the first half, Payton Pritchard had 5 points on 1-6 shooting and was being really passive. As a 6MOTY winner, scoring was going to have to be his top priority in the second half and he did not disappoint. Pritchard finished with 19 points in the second half on 7-9 shooting from the field and 4-4 from three.
Pritchard started his second half scoring a step back three over Myron Gardner who was a step slow on the contest. The next one came on another step back three, this time over Simone Fontecchio who had no chance of guarding him. He finished the third quarter with a driving layup and forced an And-1 on Kel’el Ware who hit him on the arm.
Starting the fourth quarter, Pritchard picked up right where he left off, starting with crossing up Nikola Jovic one-on-one for a midrange jumper. The next bucket came off of a missed shot by Brown but Sam Hauser got the offensive rebound and found Pritchard wide open for three. The next one came on another three, this time right in the face of Norman Powell. Finally, on maybe his best play of the night, Pritchard backed down Davion Mitchell, hit a spin move into an up and under move for a layup.
6. Derrick White Clutch 4th QuarterSimilar to Pritchard, White had a slow first half in this game but turned it on when the Celtics needed him most. He finished with 21 points, 5 assists and 4 blocks on the night and the biggest came in the fourth quarter.
Before the fourth quarter, as time was running down in the third quarter, Baylor Scheierman found White for a wide open corner three out of an inbounds pass. White made the shot as he was falling away and tied the game for Boston, completing their 22-point comeback.
As the Celtics were rolling, White hit his first shot of the fourth quarter coming off a pass from Pritchard. White caught the ball in front of Erik Spoelstra, hit the three, and held the follow through for a little bit. To quote Wesley Snipes from White Men Can’t Jump, “It’s pretty, it’s so pretty.”
His other basket of the quarter came with 1:31 left in the game. Brown attracted two Heat defenders on the pick and roll and found Vucevic wide open at the three point line. Vucevic caught the pass, made one dribble, and found White wide open in the corner from three. This would be the game winning basket for the Celtics as neither team scored again.
The reason why nobody scored again can also be attributed to Derrick White. With 34 seconds to go, Davion Mitchell drove on Derrick White. He must have forgotten that White is the best shot blocking guard in the NBA because he sent it back and Baylor Scheierman grabbed the rebound.
7. Hugo Gonzalez has no fearHugo Gonzalez’s birthday was on February 5th, 2026, the same day as the trade deadline and the day before this game. He graduated from no longer being 19 anymore, although he still might be in the eyes of Celtics fans for while. But since he is now 20 years old, Hugo decided he wanted celebrate his birthday by doing the thing he does best, creating chaos on the basketball court.
Gonzalez’s first highlight play of the night came in the first quarter when he started streaking from the corner. Vucevic found him on a nice pass Hugo’s beautiful cut led to a wide open dunk.
The next impressive play of the night came in the second quarter. Hugo was the only defender trying to guard two Heat players on the three point line. But when Pelle Larsson tried to make a bounce pass to the corner, Gonzalez picked it off and started the fast break. On it, he found Jaylen Brown on an incredible bounce pass that led to Brown being fouled and shooting free throws.
Finally, Hugo showed that he will back down to no man when it comes to fighting for the basketball. When Norman Powell grabbed a rebound in the fourth quarter, Gonzalez was also trying to grab the ball as well. He was trying to force a jump ball and when the ref blew the whistle, Powell and Gonzalez went up to each other face-to-face. Gonzalez didn’t back down to the all-star and the fight was broken up before anything got started.
Postgame, Joe Mazzulla smiled when he was about the confrontation, saying, “That was fun.” He dove deeper into it, saying “…anything that can create chaos and conflict, but not cost you points, we should be all about that.”
Joe Mazzulla on Hugo Gonzalez standing toe-to-toe with Norman Powell:
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) February 7, 2026
“That was fun.”
“So anything that can create chaos and conflict, but not cost you points — we should be all about that.” pic.twitter.com/bQznD8Va2z
In the Celtics win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, Joe Mazzulla ran out a double-big starting lineup with Luka Garza and Neemias Queta. It worked well as they were able to upset Houston so Mazzulla tried that lineup again to start this matchup against the Heat. Results were not working the same to start this game as the Heat went on a 9-2 run before Joe pulled the plug. Mazzulla took out both Garza and Queta at the 8:58 mark of the first quarter and didn’t use a double big lineup for the rest of the night. Although the double big lineup didn’t work with Garza and Queta, I don’t think Mazzulla should be swayed to never use it again. I would like to see what a lineup of Vucevic and Queta look like for a game and although it might yield similar results to tonight, you never know.
Before tonight I thought the Celtics could potentially run three bigs in their rotation similarly to how they would use Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet. After tonight I am a lot less confident in my belief of that. I think Luka Garza will be a great third center coming off the bench for Boston but I think most of the minutes should be switched off between Queta and Vucevic. If or when Jayson Tatum comes back, the power forward spot will be filled but for now I wouldn’t mind them starting a guy like Baylor Scheierman or Hugo Gonzalez. This allows Pritchard and Vucevic to come in off the bench at the same time and be able to build continuity.
9. Playoff AtmosphereThis season is my first season covering the beat for CelticsBlog live from TD Garden during games and as a media member I have been to 3 or 4 Celtics games so far but as a fan I have been to a lot more. I have been to a lot of both regular season and playoff games over the years but I think the crowd in tonight was the loudest I have ever heard it.
During the Celtics comeback in the third quarter, every time Boston made a basket or a stop on defense the crowd was erupting like it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I don’t know if it was because it was a Friday night or because it was against the Miami Heat, but either way sitting up in the press box, you could feel the stadium shaking with every basket. The loudest it got was in the fourth quarter when Derrick White hit what was the game winning three for Boston. My phone recording doesn’t do it justice because I could feel the stadium vibrating underneath my feet.
HUGE THREE FOR DERRICK WHITE GIVES THE CELTICS THE LEAD pic.twitter.com/KWswf82wFT
— Ian Inangelo (@iinangelo) February 7, 2026
This was an all time TD Garden crowd tonight and when Joe Mazzulla was asked about it after the game he said, “We have the phrase up there, “different here”, and it’s the truth… I thought that the crowd could have easily given up on us, deservedly so and I thought they stuck with us and helped us, especially third quarter.”
When the TD Garden crowd is rocking, there is no other place in the NBA that I think gets louder. I would say the crowd tonight was a factor and it got into the heads of a young Miami Heat team.
Joe Mazzulla on the fans impact tonight
— Ian Inangelo (@iinangelo) February 7, 2026
“We have the phrase up there, “different here”, and it's the truth… I thought that the crowd could have easily given up on us, deservedly so and I thought they stuck with us and helped us, especially third quarter.” pic.twitter.com/ChR1xiAhyW
To say this was a collapse of epic proportions for the Miami Heat would be an understatement. After being the only team in the Eastern Conference not to make a move at the trade deadline, Miami opened up a huge lead on the road in Boston. Celtics fans were surly getting PTSD from the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals and going into halftime, all they had to do was just keep their foot on the gas.
That did not happen for them to the benefit of the Celtics, and their poor third quarter was really their downfall. They shot 5-19 (26%) from the field and 2-12 from three in the quarter. This along with the Celtics hot shooting, got the fans in TD Garden into a frenzy and Miami lost all momentum from there. Boston has now won 13 of their last 15 matchups against the Miami Heat and 10 of those wins in a row. In the dead of winter, its always nice to Beat the Heat.
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