Celtics Down Heat With Historic Fourth-Quarter Shooting Barrage

Isaiah Thomas must’ve rubbed off on the Boston Celtics.

With Thomas, “The King of the Fourth,” sitting courtside for Friday night’s home game against the Miami Heat, the Celtics delivered a historic fourth-quarter performance. Boston drained 10 3-pointers in the final period, setting a franchise record for most made threes in the fourth quarter en route to a 129-116 victory.

It was a fitting finish with Thomas in the building. The Celtics were honoring him for his historic 52-point game against the Heat in 2016, which saw him score 29 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Nine years later, Miami kept the game close for three quarters before Boston pulled away with a barrage of threes. Derrick White finished with nine, while Sam Hauser broke out of his shooting funk with five.

White led the Celtics with 33 points and four blocks while adding five rebounds and six assists. Jaylen Brown reached 30 points for the sixth straight game, finishing with 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Boston has struggled a bit during the second half and in crunch time this season, so it was encouraging to see the team step up and put the game away. The Celtics snapped their two-game losing streak, improving to 16-11 with their first victory since Dec. 7 and their first home win in two weeks.

Hugo Gonzalez played well off the bench with 10 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes, while Anfernee Simons contributed 14 points.

Boston won’t have much time to celebrate, however, with its next game on Saturday night against the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics return to Scotiabank Arena, where they beat the Raptors 121-113 on Dec. 7.

Boston is 4-1 on the second half of back-to-backs this season, so it will try to keep that trend going north of the border.