The Boston Celtics acknowledged the victims of this week’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine before their home opener.
Boston players wore the warmups of their NBA G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics. The Celtics also donned a band on their jerseys in honor of the state as it recovers after a shooter killed 18 people and wounded 13 at a bowling alley and a bar there.
The jersey band simply read “Maine” and was placed above their Vistaprint-sponsored logo patch.
Fans also observed a pregame moment of silence while a green and white image of the outline of the state was displayed on the jumbotron.
Jaylen Brown added 27 points and six rebounds. Jayson Tatum finished with 22 points in the latest matchup of the East rivals, who've met in the conference finals three out of the past four seasons.
They split their four meetings last season. Miami then emerged in the playoffs after a seven-game slugfest in which it had a 3-0 series lead erased before beating the Celtics in Game 7 in Boston to advance to its seventh NBA Finals.
Friday's matchup, the first of their three this season, at times felt like an extension of that series.
Boston got it back up to 112-104 on a layup by Brown and free throw by Tatum.
But another Heat flurry, capped by a 3-pointer by Kevin Love, cut the lead to 114-111 with 59 seconds to play.
White was fouled and connected on both free throws. Herro got open for another 3-point try but came up empty. The Celtics pushed the ball up the floor and Brown sealed it with a 3 from the wing.
The Celtics come into the night with a 1-0 record after defeating the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday by a score of 108-104.
Former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis produced 30 points, eight rebounds, and four blocked shots in his debut with the Celtics, and he averaged 23.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game with 62.7% true shooting last season. On the perimeter, Jrue Holiday is a two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defense selection, and he averaged 19.3 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.1 rebounds per game with Milwaukee in 2022-23. He is also highly efficient, shooting 39.5% from 3-point range over the last three seasons combined.
Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis were brilliant and combined to score 64 points.
Celtics’ head coach Joe Mazzulla talked about the shootings and what’s going on in the world outside of basketball to the media on Thursday.
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