Heat with issues to figure out after Game 2 loss to Celtics: ‘They tried to embarrass us’

Most Miami Heat players and coaches may have been ready to move on after Thursday’s 25-point home loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. But Heat star Jimmy Butler wasn’t ready to turn his attention to Game 3 quite yet.

“I don’t like to move on from this because it has to hurt,” Butler explained late Thursday night. “They tried to embarrass us. They did embarrass us. So I think we got to realize that, use it as fuel, whatever you want to say.”

Celtics defense controls Game 2 to even series, other takeaways from Heat’s blowout loss

After coming away with an impressive win in Game 1, the Heat allowed home-court advantage to slip away in a 127-102 blowout loss to the Celtics on Thursday. It marked just the fourth home playoff game in franchise history that the Heat has lost by 25 or more points.

The Eastern Conference finals is tied 1-1 with the series shifting to Boston for the next two games. Game 3 is set for Saturday (8:30 p.m., ABC) at TD Garden.

“I look at it as it can’t get too much worse,” Butler continued. “They whipped our tail on our home floor. I guess if they do it on their home floor, it’s supposed to happen. But I don’t see us doing that again.”

The Heat struggled on both ends, as it posted its third-worst single-game offensive rating of the playoffs and its worst single-game defensive rating of the entire season in Game 2.

Butler accepted some of the blame despite finishing Thursday’s loss with a game-high 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field to go with six rebounds and three assists.

“I think I have to do a better job of getting everybody else involved, if I’m being brutally honest,” Butler said. “I have to find that fine medium, that fine line in between when to be aggressive and when to make sure that I can get guys open.”

With Heat starting point guard Kyle Lowry missing his fourth straight game Thursday and no clear timetable for his return, Butler has taken on the responsibility of helping to fill the facilitating void Lowry has left behind. Potentially making matters even more difficult for the Heat, starting forward P.J. Tucker’s status is up in the air after he left Game 2 in the third quarter because of a left knee contusion and did not return.

Butler, who has averaged a team-high 10.4 potential assists (any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball) this postseason, actually finished the Heat’s Game 2 loss with 10 potential assists despite not even playing in the fourth quarter because of the lopsided score. Be he still felt like he could have played a more unselfish style Thursday.

“I’ve got to basically do Kyle’s job and make sure guys are in spots where they can be comfortable and be the most successful,” Butler said. “That’s on me. I don’t think that’s on [coach Erik Spoelstra]. I don’t think that’s on Bam [Adebayo]. I think it’s my job, because I got the ball a lot of the time, to make sure that everybody is comfortable and getting the shots that they need to have.”

Butler, who is the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer in the playoffs with 29.8 points per game, took a team-high 18 shots Thursday. Heat guard Tyler Herro attempted the second-most shots on the team with 11 and Adebayo put up just six shots.

“I think I got a bit selfish on the offensive end,” Butler said. “I got to look to use my teammates. They have been there for me all year long and I got to get back to that because whenever they are scoring, whenever they are aggressive, we are a much better team.”

What will that require Butler to do moving forward?

“I just have to set better screens, attack more, touch the paint and look to kick the ball out even sometimes when I do have a layup,” he said. “Just because that is the right basketball play, and somebody is more than often going to be open. That’s on me. I’ll watch the film and, I promise you, I will figure it out.”

The Heat has a lot to figure out as a team. Despite the series being tied 1-1, Miami has won just one of the first eight quarters through the first two games of the series.

Take away that one dominant Heat quarter in the third period of Game 1 and Miami has allowed Boston to shoot a combined 77 of 148 (52 percent) from the field in the other seven quarters.

The Heat’s offense has had its moments, but the Celtics’ switching defense was effective in Game 2 in disrupting a lot of the actions the unit usually gets to. Boston switched 36 screens and allowed just 0.75 points per chance on those possessions, according to Second Spectrum.

“You get to this point of the conference finals, you just have very good teams,” Spoelstra said. “You have teams without many weaknesses. It’s great competition. This only counts as one. This is what the experienced players in the locker room and staff understand. We don’t like it and they played extremely well. You have two really good teams, and we just have to figure some things out.”

The Heat also must now win at least one game in Boston to move on to the NBA Finals after losing home-court advantage in Game 2.

“We lost a game in the playoffs before,” Heat guard Gabe Vincent said. “It’s a loss, whether you lose by one or by 20. Recoup, go back to the drawing board and get ready for Game 3.”