MIAMI – Pinch-hitting for Celtics-Heat coverage this week in Miami, so this round of questions is a bit different…

1. Was the Game 2 loss a blessing in disguise for the Celtics?

The Celtics dominated the regular season, going 64-18, a whopping 14 games ahead of the second-place New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference. No other NBA team won more than 57 games (Thunder, Nuggets). The Celtics never had a losing streak longer than two.

So when Boston’s first-round matchup was a Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat, perhaps it seemed a bit too easy. Surely, they’d bulldoze the depleted squad en route to the next round.

Instead, after a solid 114-94 victory in Game 1, the Celtics fell to the Heat 111-101 in Game 2. A brutal slap in the face for a team that lost only four home games all season.

But as some of the Celtics players suggested after Game 3, it may have been a good thing. Losing on their home court brought a sky-high team down to earth. It reminded them that anything can happen in the playoffs, and that no one, even one of the most talented Celtics teams in recent history, can rest on their laurels when the calendar flips to the postseason.

“I feel like we’re still getting going,” Jaylen Brown said after their Game 3 victory. “I think we still got another gear to kick into.”

2. What was Jimmy Butler thinking?

It was one thing when Butler trolled the Celtics after Game 2, posting a photoshopped graphic of Jaylen Brown’s “Don’t let us get one” quote from when the Heat had a 3-0 series advantage in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.

“feeling cute, might delete later. sikeeeee I ain’t deleting (expletive),” he captioned the post.

A bit of trolling was warranted, even from a player who hasn’t played in the series. The depleted Heat had come to Boston and taken a game from the Celtics.

It was another thing entirely when Butler spoke to TNT’s Chris Haynes during a break in Q1 on Saturday evening and offered up this bold take:

“If I gotta hear one more praise about Boston on national TV when we win a game, I’m tired of hearing that, man,” the injured Heat star said. “It’s 1-1, we (about to) go up 2-1.”

The Celtics blew out the Heat on their home court, 104-84.

Will rivals ever learn?

There was New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who bragged that his team was the only one who could “Do damage” to the 2018 Red Sox. Boston won 108 regular-season games, the division, and the World Series.

When the Yankees won Game 2 of that year’s ALDS, Aaron Judge blasted “New York, New York” from a boombox as he walked out of Fenway Park. It would be the only game New York would win before Boston eliminated them, and when the series shifted to the Bronx for the following two games, Brock Holt became the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle in a postseason game and the Red Sox won 16-1.

In Game 4, the Yankees had Boston’s 1978 tormentor, Bucky Dent, throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Hours later, the Red Sox won the series and played “New York, New York” as they popped champagne in the visitors’ clubhouse.

Likewise for the 2018 Houston Astros, who apparently learned nothing from the Yankees. With the ALCS tied 1-1, Alex Bregman – who was hitless at that point in the series – shared a video of the Astros hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs off Red Sox Game 3 starter Nathan Eovaldi.

“We do our talking on the field,” future World Series MVP Steve Pearce told WEEI. “If he wants to run his mouth now, we’ll see who is talking at the end of the series.”

The Red Sox took Game 3 by a score of 8-2. Eovaldi pitched six innings and didn’t give up a homer; Pearce and Jackie Bradley Jr. (grand slam) homered. Boston wrapped up the series in five games, punching their ticket to the World Series at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

Even the Brown quote Butler shared: the Celtics took that series from a 3-0 Heat advantage all the way to Game 7 before Miami finally finished the job. Far from a sure thing.

In other words, when facing Boston, it’s best not to boast until the job is done.

3. What can the Red Sox learn from the Celtics?

“Can we be the tougher, harder-playing team? When you combine that with our talent level, I think it’s going to be hard to beat us,” Tatum said after Game 3. “But can we start off every game essentially punching first and not reacting? That’s the test for us that we have to get up for every single game.”

Basketball and baseball may be apples and oranges, but the attributes of winning are universal: never back down, never give up. Watching the Celtics bounce back from a stunning Game 2 loss at home and overcome a Game 3 first quarter that head coach Joe Mazzulla described as “just physical, tough… a rock fight” to win 104-84, was a reminder that the Red Sox need to get better at battling back. They’re 1-6 when opponents score first, so “punching first and not reacting” has really been their only way to win.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were a combined 0-for-3 before Porzingis’ first three gave Boston a lead they’d never relinquish. The Heat outscored the Celtics for much of Q3, but Boston had already built up a large enough lead before the half.

The Red Sox are fighting. One month into the season, they own a winning record and have one of the best starting rotations in baseball.

But they might do well to take a page or two from the local basketball team’s playbook.

Especially when it comes to prioritizing defense.