The Miami Heat kicked the Celtics in the head and everywhere else in Game 3

I’ve seen a few donkey floggings in my life. I remember beating the No. 1 overall pick by about 20 runs in the fifth grade baseball playoffs. To put a championship cap on Alabama’s 2012 football season, the Tide ran through Notre Dame with such ferocity that their opponents lost the game after the first quarter. In Miami, I once saw a poor stumbling drunk fool get hit so hard by a Collins security guard that it echoed for a block. After it cooled, that unfortunate spring breaker still looked more lively than the Boston Celtics he did as he rubbed them like tenderloin in Game 1 the Miami Heat on Biscayne Blvd.

The game ended with a final score of 128-102, but in the third quarter the Celtics looked like he got hit harder than Ryan Garcia last month in Las Vegas. The Celtics had no lead to let go they slip through their fingers Sunday. The Heat came home with a 2-0 lead, and after five minutes of the first quarter, the Celtics were in desperate need of water, ice cubes, a broken window, anything that would provide relief.

The Celtics wilt under pressure

This pounding was relentless. Of course, the Celtics didn’t treat him the way Joe Frazier treated Muhammed Ali in The Thrilla in Manilla. However, Frazier’s trainer stopped this contest in the 15th and final round – as his fighter could not see out of either eye.

In the NBA, the corner and referees don’t stop the fight. Individual players are forced off the floor due to injury or misconduct, but the game will go to 48 minutes unless something catastrophic happens, such as a fan riot in Auburn Hills, Mich.

With no need to throw in the towel, the Celtics were forced to take all of the Heat’s blows on national television. The Heat’s counterpunch, which kept bringing the Celtics to their knees, was a shot. In the first three quarters of Game 3, the Heat shot better than 57 percent from the field in each. They shot a paltry 54.5 percent in the fourth with only bench players on the floor.

Gabe Vincent led the way

While Jimmy Butler had a great performance in the Eastern Conference Finals, he shot just 38.5 percent from the field in the game. Most of the work was done in the third quarter. Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson have attempted more than 10 field goals, making more than 63 percent of their attempts and better than 57 percent from the 3-point line.

Vincent scored 29 points and missed three shots in the game. Combine that with Bam Adebayo trying to get everyone in his way and the Celtics have finally found the limits of human resistance. When the Celtics trailed by 30 points early in the fourth quarter, Joe Mazzula benched four of his five starters in 12 minutes.

Come Monday morning, the Celtics will be berated on TV for their Game 3 effort. My advice to viewers – and Boston sports talk radio listeners – is to keep the speaker volume down to avoid noise complaints.

The Celtics’ efforts weren’t great at times, but they didn’t want to be in the fetal position for most of the night. The reality is that they were beaten into it. With the Heat playing in Games 1 and 2, the Celtics had plenty of opportunities to win both.

Boston never had a chance

There was no chance of victory on Sunday night. The never-ending parade of jump shots might as well have been Pat Riley gutting Brad Stevens once a minute. The Celtics shot lifeless LA Fitness 3-pointers as the repeated punch to the heart throughout the night took its toll.

Hate the Celtics, insult their resilience and coach, even hate Jaylen Brown’s future earnings for those who want to drink Boston’s tears. The Celtics were terrible in Game 3, but they deserve a lot less than the Heat. It grew to epic proportions in downtown Miami, and the Celtics were forced to curl up and take it away.