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Eddie House: NBC Sports reported that the Celtics defense was “a count late” in their Game 2 defeat to the Heat. Boston

In the NBA playoffs’ opening round, the Boston Celtics were defeated by the Miami Heat 111-101 on Wednesday, tying the series at one game apiece. The Heat made a franchise playoff record of 23 3-pointers while still missing Jimmy Butler, and they were only two shy from tying the NBA record.

Eddie House of NBC Sports Boston talked about the Celtics’ defensive shortcomings after the team’s defeat on Wednesday night.

Watching game footage, House remarked, “I feel like they were just a count late on everything they were doing,” pointing out late shot contests on Miami’s 3-pointers. “They got a lot of open shots, a lot of uncontested shots — I just feel defensively, we weren’t engaged.”

Lead by Tyler Herro (6-11 from three) and Caleb Martin (5-6), Miami made 23 of their 43 attempts from deep. Before Wednesday night, the Heat had a season-high 21 3-pointers in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers during the regular season.

House went on to explain how the series should have proceeded if Boston had won at home on Wednesday. “When you have an opportunity to get a stranglehold on this series to go up 2-0, then all you have to do is split on the road — you’re up 3-1 after that — and you take care of business,” House said. “You’re just extending the series when I don’t think you needed to, so you have to go back home now. They were half a day behind schedule for everything.”