Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 119-104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers (36-30) on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center to drop to 0-4 on its five-game homestand. The Heat (29-36) closes the homestand on Friday against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics:

HALFCOURT DEFENSE The Heat gave up a 113.3 offensive rating to the Clippers in halfcourt situations, (which ranks in the 88th percentile), allowing them to convert on 36 of their 62 shots (58 percent) from the field.

For the second time in five days, TD Garden played host to a potential NBA Finals preview Wednesday night. This one ended in disappointment for the defending champs.

The Oklahoma City Thunder clinched a spot in the playoffs, and they did it against the team they could be facing when the NBA postseason reaches its peak

"Tougher team sets the rules. They had a good level of physicality tonight." The post OKC Thunder stand as most daunting roadblock for Celtics’ 19th title appeared first on Boston.com.