Takeaways from another Heat win over an East contender — this one without Jimmy Butler

There was a lot working against the Miami Heat entering Tuesday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics.

Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler was ruled out for the game because of right ankle soreness.

Miami was playing its third game in four days and on the second night of a back-to-back set following Monday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors.

And the game was against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, as Boston owns the third-best record in the East.

But the shorthanded Heat (43-25) overcame all of that to defeat the Celtics 112-106 on Tuesday night in its third of eight seeding games at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. It marked the end of Miami’s lone back-to-back set during seeding play.

“It was a tough loss [Monday] night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But we got right back to work in our team meeting walk-through this morning to prep. A lot of guys stepped up. This couldn’t be two or three guys playing well. You were going to need several guys playing well and doing it over the course of 48 minutes.”

Heat’s Jimmy Butler out vs. Celtics with right ankle soreness

Boston (44-23) never led, with Miami controlling the game for most of the night.

But after the Heat’s lead ballooned to 16 points in the second quarter, the Celtics opened the third quarter on a 17-6 run to cut the deficit to just one point.

Miami responded, closing the third period on a 22-15 run to enter the final quarter with an eight-point lead.

With the Celtics again making it close to pull within four with 4:41 to play, the Heat got two big three-pointers from Duncan Robinson to push its lead back up to 10 with 1:43 remaining.

“Honestly, this one meant a lot,” Robinson said. “I’m from 45 minutes north of Boston. I grew up going to TD Garden. We played them multiple times and we haven’t done well, I haven’t done well. I was reminding myself of that constantly.”

Boston kept fighting, though, cutting Miami’s lead to three on a three-pointer from Kemba Walker with 13 seconds to play. But that’s the closest the Celtics would get.

Boston was led by All-Star wing Jayson Tatum, who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds.

Next up for Miami is another game against one of the East’s best, with a Thursday matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks looming. The Bucks own the top record in the conference, but they enter the contest on a two-game losing skid.

Five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Celtics on Tuesday at HP Field House:.

After logging 33 minutes of playing time in Monday’s loss to the Raptors, Butler was held out on the back end of the back-to-back set because of right ankle soreness.

Butler, 30, played in the Heat’s first two seeding games at Disney, averaging 19 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, 5.5 rebounds and six assists in 31.6 minutes. He finished Monday’s loss to the Raptors with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks in 33 minutes.

It’s still unknown if this is a one-game issue or if Butler will be forced to miss multiple games.

The Heat won Tuesday. But, obviously, the Heat is a better team with Butler on the court.

Butler, a five-time All-Star, is averaging team-highs in points (20.2), assists (6.1) and steals (1.7) in his first season with the Heat. Miami has outscored opponents by 227 points with Butler on the court.

Butler missed Sunday’s practice with what the team termed as an “excused absence.” But that absence is unrelated to the ankle injury he’s currently dealing with.

Tuesday marked the 12th game Butler has missed this season. The Heat has posted a 6-6 record without Butler.

But the Heat’s other All-Star was available, and he led the way against the Celtics.

Center Bam Adebayo was a force on both ends, finishing with 21 points, 12 rebounds, one steal and one block in 32 minutes. With Boston throwing smaller defenders — like 6-6 Jaylen Brown — on the 6-9 Adebayo, he took advantage with four of his five made baskets coming from inside the restricted area.

Adebayo, 23, was relentless, also scoring 11 points at the foul line on a career-high 18 free-throw attempts.

“We wanted to get the ball in our All-Star’s hands since Jimmy was out and have him either facilitate or put pressure on their defense,” Spoelstra said. “Our shooters were running all over the place and creating triggers and openings. But you need somewhere where the ball can just settle, and you know that you can trust that you’ll get something solid on that possession. That’s who Bam is for us, particularly with Jimmy out.”

With Adebayo on the court, Miami posted an absurdly good defensive rating of 96.9 against the Celtics. Boston scored at a pace of 137.5 points per 100 possessions in the 16 minutes Adebayo was on the bench.

It was a strong bounce-back performance for Adebayo, who was relatively quiet in Monday’s loss to the Raptors with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting and zero free-throw attempts.

“I feel like last game I didn’t do enough,” Adebayo said. “I really lost sleep over it last night. So today I was like, ‘Look, I got to do everything I can for this team to win.’ And that’s sort of my mind-set today.”

It looks like Adebayo is quickly working his way back to form after arriving at Disney two weeks later than the team because of a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Adebayo has averaged 17.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and four assists in 30.6 minutes during the Heat’s first three seeding games.

Without Butler, the Heat used its 12th different starting lineup of the season. The rotation looked a little different, too.

Miami moved Kelly Olynyk into the starting lineup in Butler’s place alongside Kendrick Nunn, Robinson, Jae Crowder and Adebayo.

The Nunn-Robinson-Crowder-Adebayo-Olynyk combination had played just three minutes together entering Tuesday’s contest. But this lineup was able to hold its own against Boston, finishing with a plus/minus of plus-one in 11 minutes.

With Olynyk playing as a starter, the Heat’s bench rotation included Derrick Jones Jr., Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala, and Tyler Herro.

Three Heat players finished with 20 or more points — Adebayo and Robinson with 21 each, and Dragic with 20.

Jones, who logged just 16 seconds of playing time Monday against Toronto, played 21 minutes against Boston with Butler unavailable. Jones finished with six points and two rebounds.

Center Meyers Leonard, who started his first 49 games with the Heat this season, received his third consecutive DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) — the only three games he has not played in when active this season.

After totaling 56 points in Monday’s loss to the Raptors, the Heat’s bench continues to prove it’s a real strength. And Dragic continues to impress in the bubble, but limped off the court in the final seconds of the game.

Even with Olynyk shifting from the bench to the starting lineup because of Butler’s injury, Miami’s reserves still combined for 43 points against Boston. The Heat’s reserves outscored the Celtics’ bench 43-24.

In the first three seeding games, the Heat’s bench has scored a total 143 points. That’s an average of 47.7 points per game.

Dragic followed up his 25-point performance against the Raptors with 20 points against the Celtics on 6-of-12 shooting.

The bad news for the Heat is that Dragic limped off the court with 5.2 seconds to play and went straight to the locker room. But the team announced late Tuesday night that postgame X-rays of Dragic’s ankle returned negative, and he’ll be re-evaluated Wednesday.

Before Tuesday’s game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens praised the Heat and said Miami has the potential to be a “scary team in the postseason.” The Heat’s record against the East’s best is further proof of that.

Stevens said: “I think when you look in the last 12 months or so, adding Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala, Duncan Robinson at 6-8, like they’re long and versatile. Tyler Herro, 6-6. They still obviously got all the great qualities of a Miami Heat team. They just have a lot more versatility and flexibility. I think that they’re a scary team in the postseason because they can play a number of different ways. They can play Adebayo and Olynyk together. They can play one of those guys. They can go super small and be really versatile.”

The Heat dropped its first two matchups against the Celtics this season, but was able to avoid the season sweep Tuesday. Each of Miami’s three matchups against Boston this season have come on the second night of a back-to-back set.

“They beat us two times in the regular season,” Adebayo said of the Celtics. “So it’s important to just stand your ground, instead of getting beat 3-0. It was like, we got to make a stand. We got to prove a point. Like I said before, I feel like this team can battle anybody.”

With Tuesday’s win over Boston, Miami has posted an impressive 10-4 record this season against the top six teams in the East (2-0 vs. No. 1 Bucks, 2-1 vs. No. 2 Raptors, 1-2 vs. No. 3 Celtics, 2-0 vs. No. 5 Pacers and 3-1 vs. No. 6 76ers).

The Heat currently stands in fourth place in the East, 1.5 games behind the third-place Celtics and one game ahead of the fifth-place Pacers.

“The Heat are without question really good,” Stevens said. “Beating them four times in seven games is going to be exceptionally difficult. They’re just a good team. And then I’d say that Spo is one of the best coaches I’ve seen. I think he’s terrific. Obviously, they had the great runs with [LeBron] James and [Chris] Bosh and [Dwyane] Wade, and all the shooters around those guys. But in each of the last few years, you know what you’re getting every single night with regard to effort, intensity, playing together, playing with speed, playing purposefully. They have a way about them.”