The Garden cleared its throat, and roared.

A playoff roar of pride and relief. Of hard-earned approval pouring down to the parquet for the first time in almost 11 months.

The Celtics walked off the court to close Sunday’s third quarter, having all but finished the Heat with a 25-5 run in Game 1. That stretch spoke directly to an accepted truth of this series.

The Celtics will win. And they just might smoke Miami.

Because this time, Boston is too talented. Too deep, too heavily armed with defensive stoppers and 3-point shooting to let a Jimmy Butler-less Heat squad scare them like postseasons past. For the first time in their knock-down-drag-out playoff history, winning feels like a given. The mystery lies with the Celtics’ path forward.

Will they play around Miami or through them?

Naturally, the Heat blocked Boston’s path to an easy exit in the fourth quarter before falling 114-94. Miami cut the Celtics’ gargantuan 34-point lead by more than half with 3:58 left, and Caleb Martin later upended an airborne Jayson Tatum skying for a rebound. Tatum crashed hard, flat on his back, and laid there long enough for Jaylen Brown to zip over and confront Martin nose to nose.

The lower bowl of the Garden leapt to its feet and stood for the remainder of the game, thousands ready to jump Martin in the event of another dustup; even as the final seconds ticked off of a 20-point blowout.

Boston, MA – Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis looks to drive past Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic during the first quarter of the game at the TD Garden. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

How can you not love Celtics-Heat?

Well, here’s how: a year ago, Miami reminded Boston that the difference between them is not superior talent or star power or luck. It was toughness. Discipline.

The Heat snatched the rugged identity of a blue-collar city and turned it against their team. The South Beach bullies outworked and outsmarted the Celtics, from Butler to Martin and on down the roster.

But Sunday, there was no such difference. The memory of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals seemed to burn from the opening tip.

This was personal.

Less than a minute in, Brown put Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez in a baseline spin cycle, flushed a dunk and stared him down. Then Tatum hunted three rebounds in the first two minutes. Jrue Holiday blocked Jaquez at the rim. Tatum followed with a ferocious rim attack on the next possession.

“We came out the right way,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We were the first ones to punch them.”

Eventually, the Celtics cooled, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra pulled out Miami’s sticky, tricky zone. Enter Sam Hauser.

Jayson Tatum’s triple-double powers Celtics to Game 1 blowout of Heat

Boston’s beloved bench sharpshooter missed two open 3s, a shaky start that might unnerve a lesser player. Then Hauser, who nearly signed with the Heat as a rookie, canned the next four; a triumph of his fortitude and team play.

Before Hauser’s third make with 10:05 left in the second quarter, Tatum generated a defensive mismatch on the left wing, forcing Miami to abandon the shape of its zone and send help. As Heat guard Tyler Herro rotated to the top of the arc, looking to deny Tatum’s most immediate passing outlet against a fast-approaching double team, Tatum was a step ahead of Miami’s trap.

He fired a skip pass from the left wing to an open Derrick White standing on the right sideline. The Heat retreated in a defensive scramble that ended with White shoveling an easy pass into the corner for Hauser. He launched again.

Splash.

“(It’s) understanding that they’re not going to let you play 1-on-1. They’re going to send the double,” Tatum said, “(and it’s you) making the right pass out and essentially getting a hockey assist. We kept finding the right man.”

Once Hauser knocked the Heat out of their zone, Boston unofficially set the terms of engagement in Game 1, and left them no escape. The Celtics’ shooting advantage, in fact, leaves an injured Miami team just one path to victory in the series: hard points. Drawing foul shots, scoring second-chance points off offensive rebounds and turnovers to offset Boston’s 3-point barrage.

Celtics ready to apply learned lessons in Round 1 ‘war’ versus Miami Heat

But the Celtics shut off all three valves through three quarters. yielding just five second-chance points while Porzingis was their only player with multiple fouls. They committed just five turnovers.

But of course, turnovers — plus an out-of-body shooting performance by journeyman guard Delon Wright, who went 5-of-5 from distance — are exactly how the Heat climbed back. The Celtics doubled their turnover total in the fourth quarter alone, triggering quiet nerves throughout the Garden when the lead shrank to 15.

Which now begs the question: in the face of consistently inferior competition, can Boston continue to play with enough force throughout the East playoffs? Enough edge and focus?

“We talk about (it) all the time,” Tatum said, “Not getting bored with making the right play.”

Will opponents feel the Celtics, like they felt like last year’s Heat and the now rising, bruising, black-and-blue Knicks?  Can Boston — to steal a tired, but fitting cliche — impose its will?

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At Saturday’s practice, Brown indirectly spoke to this, saying Miami would make them confront their own physicality and turnovers. Porzingis took it a step further. He called the upcoming series a “war.”

The Celtics are a long way from winning the real war which, in no unclear terms, means a championship. It’s Banner 18 or bust.

For now, the C’s have won their first battle; a victory that will ultimately be remembered for Tatum’s first career playoff triple-double, but should serve as a permanent reminder of how the Tatum-era Celtics must play if they want their first ring.

“I thought (Tatum) took what the defense gave him, and found the balance of creating for himself and for others,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “So the fight for that discipline on the offensive end — on both ends of the floor, really — is a huge key to this series.”