CELTICS JOURNAL: It was a tale of two halves

For one half, their offense was in high gear, making 25-of-43 shots to build a double-digit lead.

The Celtics led the Miami Heat by as many as 17 points in the second quarter of Game 2 in the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night, settling for a 13-point advantage at the break.

They were shooting 58 percent from the field while scoring 60 points, made 6-of-14 shots from 3-point range and six players had at least six points.

Then came the second half and [...]

For one half, their offense was in high gear, making 25-of-43 shots to build a double-digit lead.

The Celtics led the Miami Heat by as many as 17 points in the second quarter of Game 2 in the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night, settling for a 13-point advantage at the break.

They were shooting 58 percent from the field while scoring 60 points, made 6-of-14 shots from 3-point range and six players had at least six points.

Then came the second half and the Celtics’ offense turned brutal, resulting in a 106-101 loss.

The Celtics had just 11 field goals in the last 24 minutes, missing 18 shots, and went only 4 of 14 on 3-pointers.

A large part of the reason for the Celtics’ woeful performance when they fell behind in the series, 2-0, was an inability to deal with the Heat’s zone defense.

The Celtics did a lot of standing around, unsure how to attack, and they rarely got the ball inside against the Heat. After scoring three field goals in the opening 2:17 of the third quarter, the Celtics managed just one basket from Kemba Walker the rest of the quarter.

"It’s a hard zone to play against,’’ said coach Brad Stevens, whose team plays Game 3 on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.. "We did play well against it in Game 1. We played with way better pace than we did (in Game 2). We’ll go back and look at it and figure out if it was a technical thing or a pace thing or an execution thing or just not as focused on the important stuff.’’

Jayson Tatum was limited to just two 3-point attempts and missed them both while Jaylen Brown took only one 3-pointer before taking three in the closing minutes.

The Celtics looked baffled trying to beat the zone, and it is something they are going to have to figure out in a hurry to get back in the series.

"I wish I knew (the answer),’’ said Tatum. "You’ve got to have better spacing, I think. A lot of times, we just weren’t in the right spots and whether that’s against man or zone, you’ve got to have the right spacing in order to create good movement and create a good shot.

"If your spacing is messed up against a good defensive team, it’s tough.’’

The Heat are not allowing the Celtics to get good looks when they go to a zone.

"We’ve got to find a way, that’s really it,’’ said Walker. "We’ve got to get into the lane and just make plays.’’

Stevens, though, didn’t want to pin too much of the blame for the Celtics’ woes on not beating the zone.

"This isn’t about zones and defenses and offenses and stuff like that,’’ he said. "We’ve just got to be better.’’

A long break

The NBA finally released the remainder of the schedule for the conference finals late Thursday night, and after Game 3, there is a long break.

Following Saturday’s game, the teams will be off until Wednesday night when Game 4 takes place.

The league has been scheduling games with one day off in between, but "Monday Night Football" prevented that from happening in this series.

The Celtics and Heat are on ESPN, and since that network has "Monday Night Football," there is no room at night for the NBA playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets are playing Tuesday night, so the Celtics and Heat will have to wait three days in between games.

Kanter effective

Enes Kanter, who played just seven minutes in two games in the series with the Raptors and was a DNP in Game 1 against the Heat, took advantage of some playing time on Thursday.

Kanter entered the game as the first big man in the second quarter ahead of Robert Williams. He was 4-for-4 with nine points and six rebounds in 11 minutes.

Rookie Romeo Langford also was on the floor in the first quarter, but he lasted just 1:21 due to a right abductor strain.

jfenton@enterprisenews.com

On Twitter at @JFenton_ent