Boston Celtics’ comeback falls short again as Miami Heat prevail 130-124

BOSTON — There was no miracle on this Mother’s Day. Another big Celtics fourth-quarter comeback shrunk another big early deficit, but it wasn’t enough as Boston lost a critical game to the Heat, 130-124, Sunday at TD Garden.

The Celtics came in badly needing a win to help their playoff position, but they dug themselves a 26-point hole. As they’ve done so many times, the Celtics sped up the game and made it interesting in the fourth quarter. But like so many of those comebacks it was enough to be interesting, but not enough to make up for the early struggles.

Boston got within six at 118-112 on an Evan Fournier 3-pointer with 3:02 left, but the Celtics couldn’t make enough stops to finish the comeback.

Butler (26 points, 11 assists) and Duncan Robinson (22 points) and Bam Adebayo (20 points) continued to add to their Celtics killing resumés. Fournier had 30 to pace Boston, while Jayson Tatum added 29.

Despite nine first-quarter points from Aaron Nesmith (16 points) off the bench, the Celtics fell in a hole early as Miami led 36-23 after one.

Miami was hot from all distances in the second quarter against a Celtics defense that continued to looked out of sync. They hit 15-for-20 shots from the floor including 5-of-7 3-pointers and all eight free throws to push their lead to 79-53 at intermission. Ariza had 15 points in that stretch as the Celtics were booed loudly as they went to the locker room at halftime.

At 35-33, the Celtics fell two games behind the Heat (37-31). The teams play again Tuesday night.

Some observations from Sunday’s game:

Rob Williams uncertainty might be commonplace for the rest of this season — It’s going to be hard to know what to expect from Rob Williams, even when he does play, the rest of the way. The painful nature of turf toe can be particularly detrimental to the bounciness that defines his game. Even a day, like Sunday, where he feels good enough to play early, can potentially devolve quickly. He played 11 first-half minutes before being ruled out for the second half.

The Celtics would have benefited from more Fournier — Fournier had 30 points and eight assists, contributions the Celtics were looking for when they traded for him. It was a continued reminder of how much he might have helped if his early days in Boston weren’t derailed by COVID-19.

Small lineup — Trying to find a spark, Celtics started the fourth quarter with three players, Payton Pritchard (6-foot-1), Kemba Walker (6-foot-0) and Carsen Edwards (5-foot-11) who were shorter than 6-foot-2. The trio along with Tristan Thompson and Nesmith rewarded Stevens with a 7-2 run to open the period.

Marcus Smart scores going to the basket — On a day where he was selected as the first Tommy Award winner on Tommy Heinsohn Day, Smart had an offensive performance that would have likely earned him some Tommy Points. Smart scored nine of his 16 total points in the second largely going to the basket rather than settling for 3-pointers.

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