We really don’t like anybody…we like ourselves and that’s what we focus on every night.

Despite his words, Ray Allen’s focus was squarely on the rim.

Allen canned seven three’s and scored 35 points to prove that, in fact, the Celtics don’t like the Heat.  He did this as Boston came into the American Airlines Arena and exited with a 112-107 win over Miami.

Last night’s game was almost identical to the Celtics’ opening night 88-80 victory over the Heat.  The Celtics stormed to an early lead, clearly exerting their dominance in the contest.  Let’s check out the key elements that contributed to Boston’s triumph in these teams’ second meeting of the season:

Rondo’s one-handed tomahawk – With about three and a half minutes remaining in the first period, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo executed the play of the game.  With a back screen approaching, Rondo did a small crossover on Eddie House, and then took off down into the paint.  He delivered a monster jam right next to Chris Bosh – who provided Rondo with his very first posterization.  The 6’10″ Bosh looked like he had no intention of trying to block the 6’1″ Rondo’s dunk attempt.  Just plain sad.  But the dunk was only one play of yet another opposing point guard controlling the flow of the game.  Chris Paul, Deron Williams and now Rondo have all dominated the Heat from the point.  Miami is going to have to figure out how it can cope with losing the battle at this position on most nights. 

In two games against the Miami Heat this season, Wade is shooting 6 for 28.

Dwayne Wade, where are you? – For the second time, D-Wade was thoroughly ineffective against Boston.  Wade was only 2-12, and almost had as many turnovers (6) as points (8).  Simply put, the Heat’s former franchise player shrunk into a role player who couldn’t get the job done against the C’s.  Watching Wade play, his lack of shooting confidence is a glaring issue that he is going to have to overcome.  Right now, any productivity that he is able to create has been based on his athletic ability – which is not good enough to get the job done when battling one of the league’s premiere defensive teams.  Chris Bosh had a brief moment of brilliance in the second quarter, but otherwise contributed a quiet 15 points and 7 rebounds.  Udonis Haslem (21 points, 10 rebounds) was the second best player for the Heat last night.  LeBron James played well and gave Miami a chance to break into the game at the end, but his near triple-double – 35 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists – turned the heat into a one-man show.  Even he hit the side of the backboard on an attempted triple from the corner that would have made things quite interesting late in the fourth.  Boston doesn’t allow one-man shows to beat them – so Wade had better fix his broken jumper if Miami plans on sniffing the Finals.  The good news is that he has a long time to do so.

Ray Allen couldn’t be stopped…or could he? - Allen was on fire tonight.  He sunk his first 7 three-point field goal tries (before missing his last two), and the Heat never seemed to make it a priority to corral him.  But why not?  Maybe because Miami does not have a player on its roster who is prepared to chase Allen around and through screens all night.  Wade, Eddie House and James Jones all tried their hands at it.  But from an even bigger perspective, the Heat did not commit to their defensive identity against the Celtics.  The visitors shot 54% from the field (including 56% from beyond the arc), highlighted by some wide open shots for Allen, who is perhaps the best shooter in the NBA.  This illustrates that the Heat needs to avoid its defensive lapses if it wants to have a chance at greatness this year.

Did the Heat forget that Ray-Ray is a little better than most other shooters?

Soft in the middle? – We all know that a team with Chris Bosh as its power forward can only be but so rugged.  That’s where Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire come in.  They have to be enforcers on this team.  But there’s only one problem – they’re not getting any burn.  Anthony played for almost eight minutes, and was perhaps the most invisible man in the arena (1 personal foul, no points, rebounds or blocks).  Magloire got a DNP-CD, and has played in just three games this season, collecting a totalof three points and five rebounds.  The Heat are going small, and they are paying for it.  They’ve been dominated by the likes of Emeka Okafor, Paul Millsap, and Kevin Garnett.  Haslem is perhaps the toughest player on the team, but at 6’8″ – the same height as LBJ – he lacks the size to play with the big boys for big minutes.  From a defensive standpoint, someone has to step up in the middle, and Erik Spoelstra will have to tinker with his rotation to make it happen.

Sense of urgency – Boston had it, and Miami didn’t.  The Heat never revealed any true angst or displeasure as the game developed.  The didn’t seem like they were particularly disturbed about being outplayed on their home court.  They didn’t care that a team with players who are past their prime was manhandling them.  How could a team, with such high expectations, not be ready to play against the team that had defeated them earlier in the season?  A team that is a clear rival?  A team that many expect them to meet down the road?  For some inexplicable reason, the Celtics had the chip on their shoulders.  And Miami didn’t come close to knocking it off.

It all adds up to the fact that the Heat have some handy work that they need to take care of.  They’ve got quite a while to get it done…but if they want to achieve their ultimate goal – which, at the very least, should be a trip to the NBA Finals – the job better be done by the time they get to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.  With the up-and-down Orlando Magic and the streaky Atlanta Hawks in the picture, even advancing to the conference finals should not be considered a foregone conclusion.

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