Heat most to blame for Game 3 loss to Celtics

After stealing one game at the Boston Celtics’ parquet floors, the expected outcomes came out on top for the Miami Heat. Coach Erik Spoelstra had issues fixing the team’s rotations given the injuries that they are currently dealing with. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continuously got to their spots while everyone else on Coach Joe Mazzulla’s squad executed to the best of their abilities. While fans can point fingers at Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro for not being as lethal as they were in the previous game, it looks like Caleb Martin might have been their weakest link.

The Heat clearly need a third option to also pop off for 20 points to stand a chance against the Celtics. Coach Joe Mazzulla has all the firepower in his hands due to the top-seeded team’s roster construction. However, the squad from South Beach does not have that type of luxury. In the last game, Caleb Martin was that guy after scoring 21 points. Now, he just faded into the background while getting exposed on switches.

The Heat forward played 38 minutes against the Celtics and could not produce much tangible impact. He only got four shots up while sinking just two of them for five points. His two assists and three rebounds were also not enough to get the Heat in any sort of offensive groove. Another horrid fact about Caleb Martin’s performance in this game was he had the worst plus-minus. Martin finished the game with a -23 which is tough to look at for any Heat fan.

Maybe it was just his offensive production that was not clicking, right? Well, his defense against the wing-centric Celtics offense was also not the best. He struggled to defend dribble hand-offs, problems of overcommitting to driving lanes surfaced, and struggles in finding the passing lanes for steals were also huge. Coach Erik Spoelstra would often designate him to contain either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. Either way, it did not matter. The Celtics’ lethal duo combined for 44 points and clearly outclassed him.

Heat gets blown out at home