Jimmy Butler frustrated by Heat's slow starts: I think it gets old

Jimmy Butler lamented another slow start from the Miami Heat as the Boston Celtics held on for a 117-106 win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Miami's lead in the series was cut to 2-1 as Boston raced out to an early lead and saw it out, with four Celtics players scoring at least 20 points.

The Heat had overturned a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to win Game 1, while they rallied from a 15-point hole in the third quarter to take Game 2, yet this time around Miami, who trailed by 20 points at one point in Game 3, were unable to muster another comeback.

"I think it gets old, playing from behind consistently," Heat swingman Butler told reporters.

"Especially against a great team like Boston and what they bring to the table."

2-1 series lead with a huge Game 4 Wednesday at 8:30pm.#HEATTwitter y'all ready to bring the noise?? pic.twitter.com/lLNgqMv3rw

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Boston led 31-22 after the first quarter and though Miami scored 32 fourth-quarter points it was a case of too little, too late.

"We've got to start the game how we start the fourth," Miami's All-Star Bam Adebayo added.

"I feel like we're not the type of team where we can go through the motions and try and figure out everything in the first half, and then in the third or fourth, we just try to turn it on. It's not like that. We are not that type of team."

It was just Miami's second loss of this postseason and Adebayo is keen for the Heat to start hotter in Game 4 on Wednesday.

"We've got to play with detail," he said.

"I feel like we've got to work on our offense a little bit. They got us on our heels. They were out there hooping it up and having fun. I feel like that was the big difference in the game.

"They jumped out on us, and I guess they got tired of us being down 13 and coming back and winning. We've just got to do a better job of not letting ourselves get in a big deficit."