Jimmy Butler, Heat use 39-14 3rd quarter run to beat Boston Celtics in ECF Game 1.

Jimmy Butler driving on Derrick White.

Jimmy Butler socred 41 points, and the Miami Heat used a 3rd quarter run to beat the Boston Celtics 118-107 at the FTX Arena Tuesday night in Miami, Florida.

Jayson Tatum and the Celtics seemed to have control over the Heat during the first two quarters of Tuesday night’s game, playing great defense, sharing the basketball and winning by 8 at the half, 62-54.

Tatum, himself came out on fire scoring 21 of his 29 points for the game in the first half alone. It seemed as if he would have another big scoring night similar to the game 6 performance he had against the Milwaukee Bucks where we went for a total of 46 points.

However, Miami came out in the 2nd half more focused on offense and more aggressive on defense as they used a 39-14 run in the 3rd quarter to catapult the to a 93-76 lead to begin the 4th quarter and they never looked back.

Jimmy Butler was the star of he night scoring a game high 41 points on 12-19 shooting to go along with 9 rebounds. His back to back steal and scores midway through the 3rd quarter seemed to energize the team and the arena as the fans, silent for most of the game, came to life and began roaring all throughout the 3rd and for the remainder of the game as the Heat cruised to victory.

When asked of his performance, he responded “I know what I’m capable of. I don’t do this to score 40 points, I play the way I play to win.” He most certainly looked as though he played the way he described his performance.

Butler came out passive for most of the first quarter and as the game started to go into the Celtics favor, it certainly seemed as if he began to become more aggressive and assertive, attacking the basket and getting to the foul line often, if not finishing at the rim.

He came out in the second half as if he were upset that the Heat were down at half. Coach Eric Spoelstra attested to that as well.

Also speaking on the back to back steals, Spoelstra added, “Jimmy really inspired everyone in that third quater. Those two steals kind of changed the momentum… Jimmy had his fingerprints on everything.”

Coach Spoelstra added that he didn’t have to say much and that the Heat understood the mistakes they were making and realized they needed to play better.

Besides Jimmy Butler, the Heat got great contribution from Gabe Vincent and great bench play from Tyler Herro as Vincent scored 17 and Herro added 18. Herro also had a steal in the 3rd quarter, right before Jimmy’s back to back steals to help ignite the Miami Heat surge that eventually helped them win the game.

When asked about how he played he said, “I just wanted to come in and provide a spark, scoring or making plays for my teammates, just wanted to be agressive and get everyone involved.”

The game was a completely different game in the 2nd half than the first and Miami really poured it on using great block plays by Bam Adebayo, consistent scoring from Herro and Jimmy Butler, and the energy from the crowd to help them get game 1, and now it’s on to game 2.

Game 2 airs Thursday night on ESPN at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida.