Miami Heat's Haywood Highsmith Has Inspiring Defensive Effort Against Jayson Tatum In Win Against Boston Celtics

While Tatum scored 31 points, Highsmith made it difficult

Here's how impressed Miami Heat coach was with Haywood Highsmith's defensive effort in the second half of Tuesday's win against the Boston Celtics: 

When asked about Highsmith's performance, Spoelstra ignored his 15 points that were second to center Bam Adebayo. No, Spoelstra was more proud of how Highsmith defender Celtics MVP candidate Jayson Tatum in the second half. 

Tatum finished with 31 points, but Highsmith made him work for every bucket. 

"He was all over the place, picking up three-quarter court and settling back into the zone," Spoelstra said. "... I thought he was really disciplined. It's really hard to play that hard and expend that much energy, try to take away Tatum's air space and then when he puts the ball on the floor and get a chest on his shoulder without falling because he's so clever once he drives and draws contact and gets to the free throw line." 

Highsmith's defense was the reason starter Caleb Martin played so little in the second half. 

"H played so well you couldn't take him out of the game," Spoelstra said. "Those are the kind of things you want from a head coaching standpoint: make us play you because you're playing so hard and you're making so many things happen. It's not just the four 3s. That has nothing to do with it. He could have not scored a single point in this game and he would've had his fingerprints all over this win." 

MORE HEAT-RELATED STORIES

Takeaways from the Heat's win against Celtics. CLICK HERE

How Heat Twitter reacted to Heat's win against Celtics. CLICK HERE

Miami Heat Twitter account trolls Cowboys, Mavericks. CLICK HERE

For a look at some of the latest Heat apparel. CLICK HERE

If you wanna bet on any games at @PrizePicks or PrizePicks.com, use our link and code. They will match your first bet for up to $100. Here's the code: PR-R1YOFY6

Shandel Richardson covers the Miami Heat for Inside The Heat.

TWITTER: @ShandelRich

Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here

For any Heat or NBA questions, please email shandelrich@gmail.com