One could argue the games have been all about who starts the best as in Game 1, the Celtics began on a 14-0 run that set the tone, then in Game 2, the Heat were hot from the three-point line making eight in the first period. In Game 3, Miami had a ton of missed opportunities and costly turnovers as Adebayo said to ClutchPoints that the team didn’t bring that “dawg” Saturday evening.

Asked Tyler Herro about if it’s crucial for Miami to have efficient starts when facing a team like Boston that will capitalize off mistakes.

“Our starts have definitely hurt us…” #HeatCulture pic.twitter.com/bN17Xkd2rZ

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) April 28, 2024

“I don’t think we really brought that dawg tonight like we did in Game 2 where we set the tone from the jump,” Adebayo said who scored 20 points and collected nine rebounds. “We didn’t do that tonight. Obviously when you don’t have that type of dawg mentality, you can get blown out by 20.”

Herro says Miami’s starts this playoff series have “hurt” them

In the first period, the Heat committed five turnovers that led to 10 points for the Celtics, even in a period where the foe wasn’t shooting that well, but were still trailing 21-12 by the end of the first 12 minutes. Herro himself said after the game to ClutchPoints that their “starts have definitely hurt” them.

“Our starts have definitely hurt us. I thought in the first game, it obviously started with the offensive rebound and set the tone and then tonight you know there was a couple of different times the balls in the air or on the floor and we didn’t at least put the right effort to come up with those,” Herro said. “Obviously they crashed the glasses harder, they sent four guys. You know when when a team like that sees that they have a a weakness of not boxing out they’re gonna continue to do that and that kind of sets the tone for the rest of the game. So definitely getting off to better stars and I think it starts with you know those balls when the balls in the air and the balls on the floor, we have to come up with those up and that’s a big you know tone setter throughout this series.”

The 24-year old star had another rough outing against Boston where he scored 15 points off of making only five of his 16 attempts from the field. They also held his big play-making ability to check as after recording 14 assists in Game 2, they held Herro to just two in Game 3.

Spoelstra says Boston was the “more physical team”

Erik Spoelstra gives his thoughts about the Heat’s Game 3 loss to the Celtics.

“They were the more physical team…” #HeatCulture pic.twitter.com/MVZHotjBOv

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) April 28, 2024

In total, the Heat committed 12 turnovers resulting in 24 points for the Celtics which is just one of the major reasons the home team fell. However, as it comes back around, even Spoelstra talks about how Boston “set the tone with their disposition” that carried throughout the contest resulting in the Celtics being the “more physical team.”

“They had set the tone with their disposition. On their end, they started the game with some deflating offensive rebounds and the threes became a little bit of a cushion,” Spoelstra said. “Offensively, early on I thought the process was solid. We missed some open shots, that plays into it, but then that led to more mistakes going down the other end and then their pressure, you know, once they got up, double digits, their pressure started to pick up and then you do have to credit them, they took us out of stuff we have liked to get to. They were the more physical team, they bodied is, bullied us on screens, got through stuff, distorted screens, everything flattened us out. Once we got past that first 6, 7, 8 minutes of it, so you have to kind of remember that there was a more physical team, a team with more physicality and force on both ends of the court.”

Miami has one more chance at home to tie the series at two wins a piece in Game 4 before going back to TD Garden for Game 5. While every game is a must-win at this point, Monday night is crucial to make this a competitive series as being down 3-1 could signal the end of the Heat’s playoff chances.