The honeymoon is over for the Miami Heat. The Boston Celtics walked into South Beach and rolled to a 112-107 victory over the Heat tonight, the second win over Miami this season. The loss, Miami's second in a row, drops the Heat to 5-4 on the season. After all the offseason talk of Lebron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, the Heat have struggled to live-up to expectations over the first nine games while working to find a chemistry together.
The Celtics led this one from start to finish, pulling away early and staying in control throughout. Ray Allen was deadly from three-point land, hitting seven threes and finishing with a game-high 35 points. Rajon Rondo played distributor for the Celtics, dishing out 16 assists. Kevin Garnett led Boston on the boards, pulling down 13 rebounds and scoring 16 points.
James narrowly missed a triple-double in a losing effort with 35 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Bosh and Wade, James' partners in crime, had slow nights for the Heat. Wade chipped-in eight points and three assists, but turned the ball over six times. Bosh added 15 points and seven rebounds.
When Wade wondered aloud whether the world would come crashing down if the Heat struggled, who knew we'd find out so soon. Nine games in and Miami has its first losing streak of the season and sits one game over .500, still unable to find a way to beat Boston. The Celtics improved to 7-2 on the year with the win.