Olynyk scores career-high 32, Celtics edged by Heat, 90-89

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BOSTON – The late-game surge that has come to define the Boston Celtics this season was alive and well on Wednesday night against Miami.

The defense was forcing turnovers.

Kyrie Irving was getting his share of "How-did-he-do-that?" buckets in the fourth quarter.

But the comeback, while impressive, was not enough as the Miami Heat rallied in the second half and held on for a 90-89 win.

Irving’s potential game-winning shot hit the front of the rim and rolled off as time expired.

Leading the way for the Heat (16-15) was former Celtic Kelly Olynyk who had a career-high 32 points.

Boston led the entire first half, but the Heat continued to keep the game relatively close and tied the game at 49 following a 3-pointer by Josh Richardson with about six minutes to play in the third quarter.

Miami eventually took the lead 51-49 on a driving lay-up by Dion Waiters.

They weren’t done.

Olynyk scored on a drive to the basket as part of a second-half run which gave Miami a 58-51 lead with 3:49 to play in the third.

Brad Stevens had seen enough and called a time-out, but it didn’t matter.

Miami’s 23-9 run to end the third gave them a slim 62-59 lead going into the fourth.

The game began with the Celtics dominating the action.Boston opened with a 6-1 spurt, and soon pushed its lead to double digits 21-11 before settling on a 24-15 after one quarter of play.

The Celtics continued to play with a double-digit lead for most of the second which ended with Boston ahead 44-36 following Irving’s buzzer-beater to end the half.

Irving and Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 12 points each in the first, while Al Horford was trending towards another double-double with five points and five rebounds. He would finish with six points and eight rebounds before fouling out with more than six minutes to play.

Olynyk wasn’t the only ex-Celtic giving Boston problems on Wednesday.

Second-round pick Jordan Mickey came off the bench to tally eight points and eight rebounds.  

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