BOSTON _ This is one you could have seen coming, with a recent loss to the Miami Heat fresh on the minds of the Boston Celtics and Brad Stevens' team entering on an eight-game home winning streak at TD Garden.
Now the question is whether a Heat lineup change is coming after Monday night's 107-99 loss at the end of a 1-3 trip.
With the starters abysmal both at the outset and then the start of the second half, solid bench performances by Dion Waiters and Derrick Jones Jr. hardly were enough to keep the Heat from again falling below .500, at 22-23.
"I don't know," coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked if a lineup change could be in the works, after opening with Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, Rodney McGruder, Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow. "As always, we'll look at everything. But that was a great lineup for us during the month of December. That just shows you this league is a challenge and you have to develop consistency with all your lineups."
After defeating the Celtics, 115-99, 11 days earlier at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Heat seemingly could not get out of their own way until the reserves were injected into the equation, on a night the Celtics got double-doubles from Kyrie Irving and Al Horford.
"We were able to inch our way back into the game," Spoelstra said, "and pretty much you have to play perfectly offensively when you're dealing with Kyrie Irving on the other end."
With turnovers compounding the struggles, the Heat went into the fourth quarter down, 87-68.
The Heat finally came to life midway through the fourth quarter, when a Jones 3-pointer, a pair of Winslow free throws and a Waiters jumper pulled them within, 99-94.
But that's when Irving went back into attack mode, with Waiters off on an open 3-pointer that later could have drawn the Heat within, 105-102.
Irving closed with 26 points, 10 assists, as well as a career-high eight steals, Horford with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Waiters and Jones each scored 18 for the Heat, with no other teammate with more than 13.
