MIAMI — The Boston Celtics had a first quarter like none other in their storied history Wednesday night, scoring 53 points in the opening 12 minutes of a 147-129 victory over the Miami Heat.
It was the second-highest-scoring first quarter in NBA regular-season history. The Golden State Warriors had a 55-point opening quarter at Portland on April 9, 2023, and Miami had a 53-point opening quarter against Charlotte on Nov. 7.
“Getting to the paint, getting to the basket and finishing. I think that was the catalyst,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said.
Boston’s 147 points tied its second most in a road game in franchise history. It was also the most points the Heat have allowed at home.
“I thought we executed pretty well,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “There’s times when you execute well and you get good shot after good shot. It just kind of happens. Usually when you’re in moments like that and you start to feel it, you take poor shots. We didn’t do that. We kept fighting for a good look, the next-best look, and I thought that kind of kept the momentum going a little bit.”
Boston led 53-33 at the end of the quarter, after shooting 20-for-28 from the field and 11-for-15 from 3-point range.
The 53 first-quarter points was the second-highest total the Celtics have had in a quarter; they had 54 in the fourth quarter of a game against the San Diego Clippers on Feb. 25, 1970. And it was the most points allowed by Miami in any quarter; the Heat gave up 50 in the fourth quarter of a game at Seattle on Jan. 5, 1990.
Sam Hauser had 17 points, going 5-for-5 from beyond the arc, while playing all 12 minutes of the first quarter. Brown had 20 points by himself in the quarter — the ninth 20-point quarter of his career, including playoffs.
“This is going to sound crazy, but this is different than the other games that we’re talking about,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Our guys were locked in and competing. There was an exceptional level of shotmaking on [Boston’s] part to start the game.”
Brown ended up with 43 points, and Jayson Tatum had a 28-point, 18-rebound, 11-assist triple-double — his first of the season, after missing much of it while recovering from the Achilles tendon tear he suffered in last season’s playoffs.
Tatum now has 83 points, 35 rebounds and 24 assists in his past three games. The last Celtics player to put up those numbers in a three-game span was Larry Bird in April 1990.
“It was just high-level shotmaking on both ends,” Tatum said.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.
