NOTES & QUOTES
Heat Starting Five: Antonio Snow, Josh Richardson, Carmelo Anthony, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Hassan Whiteside
Summary: : Despite Boston’s early struggles, Antonio Snow struggled a bit more as the Heat dropped Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston had a 16 point lead going in at halftime. Ja Morant had 16 points in the first half. Miami was living and dying by the three point shot tonight. They had only hit one-third of their attempts. But the team kept firing hoping to turn it around. Their lack of a presence on the perimeter effected their post game as Miami wasn’t able to get off many points in the paint, scoring less than 40 inside. Ja Morant feasted on the Heat tonight as he put up 24 points in the fourth quarter to seal the win in Boston.
Antonio Snow on rough shooting night: I dread coming in here. I probably shouldn’t say that, but I do. It’s always a struggle. I don’t know what kind of leprechaun voodoo they have on those baskets, but it was working tonight. I shot less than 50% from the field. Ugly.
Ja Morant on Game 3 win: This was a must win situation for us. Plain and simple. Everybody understood that and we did what we needed to do.
Erik Spoelstra on Miami’s post game: We definitely struggled. One side of our game effects the other. We couldn’t get the mid-range and outside game going, so we couldn’t draw their guys away from the paint.
Bradley Stevens on Ja Morant’s huge 4th quarter performance: That’s just the way this guy plays. High motor. High energy. If we’re ahead by five points or twenty-five points, he’s just going to keep imposing his will on the defense.
Antonio Snow on plan for Game 4: Not have a repeat of tonight. That’s the message. We’re not going back to Miami tied.
Top Performers
Miami Heat
Antonio Snow – 19 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST
Hassan Whiteside – 19 PTS, 18 REB, 2 BLK
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – 10 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 2 BLK
Boston Celtics
Ja Morant – 45 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST
Marcus Smart – 14 PTS
Gordon Hayward – 10 PTS, 2 REB