Heat at a loss beyond the absence of Butler, routed 108-89 by Brown, Celtics

BOSTON – All the perspective you need about this one is this: Thomas Bryant was first off the bench, with Dru Smith shortly thereafter given the keys to run the offense.

No, this is not how the Miami Heat envisioned the approach to the first meeting of the season against the Boston Celtics.

But with injuries decimating the rotation, that’s what they got in Monday night’s 108-89 loss at TD Garden.

Unable to keep pace with Jaylen Brown or the Celtics’ 3-pointers, the Heat found themselves overmatched against a Celtics roster that was without Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Sam Hauser. That had Boston opening not only with mainstays Brown, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, but also with Jordan Walsh and Luke Kornet.

No matter, not even as Boston cycled through the unlikely likes of Neemias Queta, Baylor Scheierman and Drew Peterson.

As was the case in last season’s 4-1 Heat first-round ouster, the Celtics had too much. And with Jimmy Butler out with the knee injury sustained a night earlier in the road loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Heat did not have nearly enough, particularly with center Bam Adebayo in the midst of his ongoing offensive struggles.

While the Heat got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Butler lineup replacement Jaime Jaquez Jr. and 19 points from Tyler Herro, that was about it for Erik Spoelstra’s offense.

Brown, who had been questionable pregame due to the illness that had him out a night earlier in the road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, led the Celtics with 29 points, supported by 25 from Payton Pritchard, on a night Tatum closed with 18.

Up next for the Heat are LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center.

Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Celtics led 28-25 after the first quarter and 60-45 at halftime, after beginning to find their range on their 3-point shots.

The Heat then opened the second half with a 7-0 run to move within eight, before the Celtics pushed their lead to 16 with an 8-0 run of their own.

From there, Boston took an 85-63 lead into the fourth, with the Celtics building the lead even further from there.

2. Can’t score: Adebayo teased at the outset, converting an 18-foot jumper on the game’s first attempt, 25 seconds in.

And then his recent reality came back to slap him in his face, not scoring again until 1:43 remained in the second period, on a putback basket that followed seven consecutive misses.

Those two baskets were his only points of the first half.

He then missed his first two attempts of the second half before heading to the bench with 4:19 to play in the third period at 2 of 12, replaced at that stage by Keshad Johnson, the undrafted forward on a two-way contract.

Adebayo finally found his touch when he returned in the fourth quarter, including making it nine games out of the last 10 with a 3-pointer.

Adebayo entered without a 20-point game since scoring 24 on Nov. 17 in a road victory over the Indiana Pacers.

He closed 6 of 18 from the field, also with eight rebounds and five assists.

3. Plan Bs: With Butler out, Spoelstra moved Jaquez into the starting lineup alongside Herro, Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.

It was Jaquez’s first start of the season, after starting in 20 of his 75 appearances last season as a rookie.

The Heat also were without big men Kevin Love (back spasms), Kel’el Ware (foot tendinitis) and Nikola Jovic (ankle sprain). That opened time in the power rotation for Bryant, who entered as the Heat’s first reserve.

It was Bryant’s first action since the Nov. 8 road loss to the Denver Nuggets, with Love returning to the rotation following that game, after missing the start of the regular season due to personal reasons.

Bryant had been held out of the previous 10 games prior to Monday.

4. Plan C: The tinkering then continued for the Heat, with Spoelstra opening the second half with seldom-used Smith in place of Robinson.

Robinson had been on the injury report over the weekend with a glute issue, but the Heat said injury was not the reason for the switch. He did not enter in the second half until 3:59 remained in the third quarter.

Robinson was among those the Celtics targeted defensively in the first half. He closed 0 for 6 on 3-pointers, finishing with five points.

Smith had not played in the previous five games, missing two with a bone bruise.

5. Attack mode: While he often found himself faced with bigger bodies at the rim, Jaquez consistently played in attack mode. He stood at 7 of 8 from the foul line at halftime, at a stage the rest of his teammates had a total of three attempts.

Jaquez closed 5 of 14 from the field and 9 of 12 from the line, also with three assists.