The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 127-102 in Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at the FTX Arena in Miami on Thursday to tie the series 1-1.

The Celtics have never suffered straight losses in the playoffs so far this season. They drained 20 triples and established a 25-point lead (70-45) in the first half on Thursday night. However, their victory not only came from the players' unreasonably good 3-point shooting, which only happened in the first quarter, but also was the result of coach Ime Udoka's incredible ability to adapt the team's game.

The Celtics cut their rotation to seven players before the game entered garbage time. Teams rarely do so unless they are desperate or the series goes deep and close. Their intention was clear: leaving no defensive weakness for the opponents to exploit. Moreover, even on such short rotation, Robert Williams III and Payton Pritchard didn't receive as much as time as the other five.

The return of Al Horford and Marcus Smart enabled the Celtics to maintain a squad that could switch everything on the defense front in most possessions. Having learnt their lessons from the lost Game 1, the team tried their best not to make excessive help defense. They forced the Heat to work in isolation for hard points instead of implementing their signature give-and-go offense for easy shots. It turned out that only Jimmy Butler was able to score regularly against such defense.

Nonetheless, the Celtics were not immutable on defense, especially in guarding Butler. Sometimes they were determined to shut him out of the 3-point line, but from time to time, they would chase him into the paint where a pocket was set up to stop him from both charging the rim and make it easier for defenders to cut his pass. Having seen Butler's ability to adapt his individual attack to defense, the Celtics responded by keeping a flexible defensive pattern that took him more time to get used to.

Compared with the mind quiz on defense, the Celtics were simple and straightforward on offense: attacking the weak links of the Heat. Neither Gabe Vincent nor Max Strus are bad defenders, but there is no way for them to guard Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown in isolation possessions. When the reserves were on the floor, Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin and Dewayne Dedmon became the vulnerable targets. Even Smart looked like a shark that smelled blood when he saw Herro or Martin defend him.

Unlike the Celtics, the Heat didn't hesitate to rotate for help defense and double-teaming, especially when the opponents drove deep into the paint. They benefited from doing so by limiting the Celtics to get only 30 points in the restricted area, however, at the cost of leaving many open 3-pointers. Smart, Horford, Grant Williams and Pritchard combined 11-of-22 from downtown.

Compared with Tatum and Brown who made multiple tough shots to combine 51 points, Smart was the best-performing Celtic on Thursday night. Having spared no effort on two ends of the court, he had a double-double of 24 points, 12 rebounds and missed only one assist for a triple-double, not to mention he had three steals as well.

The painful loss in Game 2 not only cost the Heat the home advantage for the series, but also their key defender P.J. Tucker. He didn't play in the second half of the game. According to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, Tucker suffered a left knee injury and will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on Friday to determine its severity.

That will be a blow to the Heat's rotation for the rest of the series. The lost Game 2 proved that neither Martin nor Dedmon should even be on the court for competitions at this level. Unlike the Celtics, the Heat don't have a balanced squad. If Herro continues to underperform like he did in the first two games on the offensive front, he won't be much different from Duncan Robinson, who surprisingly got some time in Game 2. Coach Erik Spoelstra wouldn't have done so unless he ran out of options for scoring. Nonetheless, Robinson missed all of his four attempts behind the arc.

Butler proved he's still capable of dominating the offense when he had to, but only for one or two quarters instead of the whole game. His teammates must make those open shots at the 3-point line and under the rim so Butler's 16 points in one quarter happened when they mattered the most, not when the deficit was too big to cut.

The Celtics are not concern-free. They rested fewer days than the Heat and turned up the intensity earlier by shortening the rotation. Their stamina will be a hidden risk. The team's 3-point rate of 63.2 percent in the first half of Game 2 won't be sustainable. The victory on Thursday gave them the upper hand, but the series is far from over.