3-point shooting again a Heat talking point after Game 3 loss: ‘Guys just have to shoot the ball’

Three-point shooting was at the center of the Miami Heat’s only win through the first three games of its first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. But three-point shooting has also been one of the big talking points for the Heat after both of its losses during the series.

Three-point shooting is that important for the eighth-seeded Heat in its matchup against the top-seeded Celtics, with Boston holding a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 4 is Monday at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m. Bally Sports Sun and TNT).

“I feel like a lot of our guys passed up open three-point shots that they should have shot,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said after Saturday night’s 20-point home loss in Game 3. “We weren’t doing that in Game 2. Everybody was letting it fly and we were living with the result. I feel like once you get down six or seven, you can’t not shoot the ball.”

Don’t tell depleted Heat they don’t have enough vs. Celtics. ‘We have enough to get the job done’

The Heat finished Saturday’s Game 3 loss just 9 of 28 (32.1 percent) from three-point range after shocking the Celtics in Boston behind a historic three-point shooting display in Game 2. The Heat hit 23 threes to set a new franchise record for three-pointers made in a playoff game to win Game 2.

But the Heat’s three-point makes and attempts were way down on Saturday (14 fewer makes and 15 fewer attempts in Game 3 than in Game 2), as the Celtics tweaked its defensive strategy to contest more three-point looks and take away some of the clean opportunities from behind the arc.

Still, Heat players walked away from Game 3 feeling like there was room to put up more threes just like they did after the first game of the series. Miami shot 12 of 37 (32.4 percent) from three-point range in Game 1.

“They did a good job of taking away some good looks and contesting good looks,” Heat forward Caleb Martin said after Game 3. “But I think overall, it’s just a mindset of just letting the ones go that we did have and not passing it up. Just giving ourselves a chance to get a couple of those to go in.”

In order for the Heat or any team to have a real chance to beat the Celtics, the numbers show high volume and efficient three-point shooting is almost mandatory. Only one team defeated the Celtics this regular season when shooting worse than 38 percent from three-point range on fewer than 30 three-point attempts, and that was the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.

Of the Celtics’ 18 losses this regular season, 10 came with its opponent shooting better than 38 percent on threes while also taking more than 30 three-point attempts.

That’s because the math it takes to defeat the high-scoring Celtics usually doesn’t work unless three-point shots are going in. Boston became one of only three teams in NBA history this season to shoot better than 38 percent from behind the arc while also taking more than 42 threes per game during an entire regular season.

The Celtics understand that and tilted the math in its favor by making the necessary adjustments to better defend the three-point line in Game 3. After generating 23 “wide open” three-point shots (when the closest defender is more than 6 feet away) in its Game 2 win, the Heat generated just 13 “wide open” threes in Saturday’s loss, according to NBA tracking stats.

“No dare shots. Respect those guys’ capability,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said of the difference in Game 3 from Game 2. “They’re NBA players and they can get hot on any given night. We just wanted to make it uncomfortable for them.”

But in order for the Heat to make it uncomfortable for the Celtics, it needs to take and make more threes.

“Honestly, I think the [three-point] shots are still there,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “I have to do a better job of creating and making the right decisions when I get into the paint, the same with Bam, and just continue to make the right play like I’ve said this whole series. Guys just have to shoot the ball. They are open and we just got to let it ride and let it go.”

MARTIN’S ADJUSTMENT

As the Heat works to make adjustments ahead of Game 4, Martin is also looking to make his own adjustment following a quiet Game 3.

After scoring 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting on threes in the Heat’s Game 2 win, Martin totaled just five points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting on threes in Saturday’s Game 3 loss.

“I think there were sometimes I passed up shots,” Martin said after his low-scoring performance in Game 3. “I felt like I was trying to get the ball moving a little bit more, being a little bit less aggressive in letting it go. So that’s on me. I can’t be as passive. I got to let the ball go.”

Martin will try to “just be assertive and not be passive” on both ends of the court Monday, especially with key Heat players like Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier still out because of injuries.

“I think I got to set a certain tone defensively from the very jump, too,” he said. “I got to find a way to get my guys going and bring that spark that I typically try to bring every night. So I got to do a better job and impact the team right away.”