MIAMI — Depending on the perspectives on the Miami Heat’s new Mashup uniforms, Thursday night’s game against the Boston Celtics was awful and awfuller.
If you liked the Mashup motif, then it merely was awful.
To the tune of nine Heat points in the second quarter on the way to a 95-78 loss that dropped the record to 6-2.
Yes, the new uniforms were colorful. The Heat’s play? Not so much.
Bullied for the first time in a season when the lopsided scores had been their own, the Heat dug a hole too severe to overcome in a second quarter they played without a single assist.
Even when playing on the second night of a back-to-back set after winning Wednesday in Orlando, the Celtics were braced for what had otherwise largely tormented Heat opposition this season, stifling the Heat with a switching defense that left the Heat at .346 from the field.
The Heat’s hit-ahead passes were smothered. Tyler Herro was downgraded from Boy Wonder to something decidedly less remarkable.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 20 points, with Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson each scoring 13.
Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:
— 1. The Lowry watch: Kyle Lowry limped to the Heat locker room at the end of the third quarter after Duncan Robinson had fallen on him during a scramble.
Lowry, listed with a sprained left ankle, closed with six points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals ... but also six turnovers, in his 28:03.
Like the rest of the wayward Heat, Lowry was off, closing 2 of 9 from the field, including 2 of 7 on 3-pointers.
The Heat dropped their lone previous game played in Lowry’s absence, when they fell in overtime on the road to the Indiana Pacers in their second game.
— 2. Terrible two: The second quarter was an exercise in futility for the Heat, scoreless for a stretch of 5:38 with only nine points in the period, the second-lowest total for a second quarter in the franchise’s 34 seasons, and the lowest since 1995.
The Heat were outscored 33-9 in the period, closing the quarter with 10 turnovers and no assists, the latter a factor of their 3-of-13 shooting over the 12 minutes.
That left the Heat with a 51-33 intermission deficit, even with Boston’s Jayson Tatum scoreless in the first half on 0-for-5 shooting.
The Heat scored only one basket over the final 7:20 of the second period.
— 3. Terrible threes: Even with Robinson converting three of his first four 3-pointers, the Heat closed the first half 4 of 20 from beyond the arc.
Boston, by contrast, was 8 of 19 on threes over the first two periods.
Robinson would later miss seven consecutive 3-pointers before his fourth conversion, closing 5 of 17 from beyond the arc.
— 4. Whole new world: Not only did the Celtics gain the first 20-point lead over the Heat of the season early in the third quarter, but prior to Thursday, the Heat had not had a deficit of more than the 12, which came in that overtime loss in Indiana.
The Heat then put together a 14-2 run to move within 64-56 late in the third period, before Boston closed it out with a 76-57 lead.
— 5. No Tyler time: After scoring 26, 22 and 25 points in this previous three games, heightening dual talk of both Sixth Man Award and Most Improved Player, Herro closed with six points on 3-of-11 shooting, prioritized defensively throughout by the Celtics.
