Celtics vs. Heat: Why Boston Will Bounce Back from South Beach Beat Down

Flukes happen.

No, the fact that the Miami Heat blew out the Boston Celtics in Game 1 isn’t a fluke. Miami has blown out teams before. The fluke is what led to the blow out.

According to ESPN, Miami pieced together one of their most efficient offensive performances of the season:

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The Heat shot a season-high 77.8 percent in the paint during Game 1. LeBron James shot 10-of-11 from this range and Dwyane Wade was 6-of-7. The Celtics had a season-high 11 shots blocked in the paint. They are 10-13 this season when they shoot below 50 percent in the paint.

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That isn’t happening again: fluke.

Boston finished second in the NBA this season in points allowed per game. Doc Rivers is a defensive mastermind. He’ll adjust his game plan and they’ll slow down the Heat in Game 2.

Another fluke is Ray Allen’s poor free throw shooting.

Chris Forsberg of ESPN reported that Rivers addressed Allen’s struggles at the charity stripe after the game: "I think Ray missed four free throws tonight. I don't think we'll ever see that again.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself, Doc.

Allen went 3-of-7 from the free throw line and 1-of-7 from the field. Let’s just say those numbers are a bit off his averages.

The cherry on top, and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a fluke, was the wretched refereeing. Boston was whistled for five technical fouls and the majority of them had Jeff Van Gundy losing his hair over the injustice. Darren Rovell of CNBC tweeted during the catastrophe:

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Report on David Stern's desk tomorrow: "Ed Malloy," "Danny Crawford," "These Refs" & "Techs" trended on Twitter last night.

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) May 29, 2012"

Of course, Comcast SportsNet reported this scary statistic: six technical fouls have been called against the Heat in the playoffs compared to a whopping 23 on their opponents. Again, I’m going to give the refs the benefit of the doubt that they had an off night. Keyword: night…singular…no "s" on the end, but we’ll see what goes down in the coming contests.

The combination of that trio of flukes led to the Celtics’ demise. Don’t expect a re-run in Game 2.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels