Miami was flat.

The Celtics didn't miss.

The Heat couldn't shoot.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers sat comfortably in his seat. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra nearly came out of his suit. That was before Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett got warm.

The Celtics raced out to a 20-point lead Wednesday and cruised to a 98-83 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena.

"I'm not sure I recognize the team that was out there," Spoelstra said of the Heat. "Right from the get-go, you could see our minds were not right. Our minds were not into it. They kind of punctured our energy and focus. It was a merry-go-round of poor play."

Allen, Pierce and Garnett -- Boston's celebrated Big 3 -- combined for 57 points and 26 rebounds. But it was Eddie House's familiarity with the arena's rims that drove the Celtics (35-9) to their sixth consecutive victory.

House, a former Heat guard, got 20 of his 25 points in the second quarter, including six three-pointers.

House finished 7 of 11 from three-point range and 9 of 15 overall.

Boston made 63 percent of their shots from beyond the arc in the first half to put the game out of reach for their sixth consecutive victory against the Heat.

TOO MANY WEAPONS

Spoelstra had warned before the game that Boston, which got off to an NBA-record 27-2 start before stumbling earlier this month, was capable of winning in may ways.

That way Wednesday was from a distance. Boston was 15 of 25 from three-point range and tied an opponent record for makes against Miami.

Protecting the three-point line has been a problem this season for the Heat, which entered Wednesday ranked 24th out of 30 teams in three-point percentage defense.

The Heat (22-19) countered with little beyond an average night from NBA leading scorer Dwyane Wade and productive outings from reserves Michael Beasley and Daequan Cook. Wade scored 25, Cook added 20 and Beasley finished with 17.

Apparently, the Celtics had more going than their shooting touch as they sprinted to a 29-10 lead.

"They were hitting shots and they were talking," Beasley said of a Celtics team known for its competitive banter during games. "We let the team come in and get into our heads.

"That kind of threw us off our game. We were terrible defensively."

Cook's three-pointer cut the Heat's deficit to 87-76 with 5:30 left, but the Celtics responded with an 11-0 run to push the lead back to 22.

DIGGING A HOLE

Wade didn't dispute Spoelstra's assessment that there was a lack of effort.

But Wade didn't offer much of a response to his coach, either.

"I ain't got nothing to say about it -- he's the coach," Wade said. "It was tough trying to fight out of that [hole] early on. Putting ourselves in that hole early on was tough."

Despite the loss, the Heat reached the midway point of the season encouraged by the progress over last season's disastrous 15-67 finish.

Coming off the league's worst record last season, the Heat is in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Miami has two days off before playing host Saturday to division rival Orlando.

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