The Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 111-105 in Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday, extending their lead to 2-0 in the series.

The Heat trailed by as many as 12 points (89-77) early in the fourth quarter, but they made quick and effective adjustments on both offense and defense to reverse the situation. Having switched back to zone defense, they shut down the Celtics' star duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who combined to shoot 1-for-8 from the field in this period.

On the offensive end, though the Heat had no one score massively in the fourth quarter, they saw everyone on the court do their job to launch a 36-22 rally. Jimmy Butler responded to Grant Williams' provocation by making four tough jumpers; Bam Adebayo added eight points and four assists for the team; Duncan Robinson drained two triples and one layup via backdoor cut-in.

Another key change coach Erik Spoelstra made in the fourth period was benching Kevin Love. Starting the 34-year-old veteran was part of the Heat's efforts to space the floor and fill the paint. Love didn't shoot any triple in Friday's game and missed all three of his attempts within the 3-point line. More importantly, Tatum kept attacking him in the third quarter, going 5-for-8 from the field to get 15 points in this period alone.

Though removing Love from the court further cut the Heat's size, they managed to out-rebound their opponents 18-5. Moreover, they protected Robinson well with their zone defense for him to make better offensive contributions without becoming a defensive dead weight.

Robinson was not the Heat's only happy surprise on the offensive end on Friday night. Caleb Martin made 11 of his 16 field goals (FGs) off the bench to score 25 points, the second-highest on the team's roster. He and Robinson led the Heat's bench unit to outscore their Celtics counterpart 42-33. Martin had 12 points in the second quarter alone, keeping his team leading after the first half, which is key to enabling them to stand in front of the opponents' fierce attack in the third period.

On the Celtics' side, Tatum was the best-performing player on their roster, not only by dropping a double-double of 34 points and 13 rebounds, but also with eight assists. By going to the free throw ling 12 times, he also made up for his poor 3-point shooting of 3-for-10 with remarkable aggressiveness.

However, Tatum didn't receive enough support from his teammates. Brown missed 16 of his 23 FG attempts. Marcus Smart and Al Horford got only nine points collectively. Robert Williams III did surprisingly well in finishing by going 5-for-5 from the floor, but there was only so much for him to do because he lacks the ability to launch attack off the dribble.

While Tatum nearly had to battle both Butler and Adebayo all by himself in the starters competitions, Brown missed 16 of his 23 FG attempts. Perhaps the elbow injury he suffered in Game 1 affected his shooting, but many of his shots were not well-thought, especially when there were his teammates waiting in open.

The Celtics' head coach Joe Mazzulla had been criticized for being slow in making adjustments during the game since the playoffs began. He made some good changes in Friday's game, including putting Grant Williams back into the rotations to use his muscle, and Robert Williams III to contain Adebayo.

Nonetheless, Mazzulla was still outperformed by Spoelstra in rising to the occasion. He needs to fix that problem and do it quickly if he wants to take the series back to Boston again.

Game 3 will take place at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Sunday.