Boston's Jayson Tatum (0) leads the race up the floor duiring Wednesday night's game vs. the Heat in Miami. (AP photo)

MIAMI (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 43 points, Jayson Tatum had his first triple-double of the season and the Boston Celtics rode the strength of a record-setting first quarter to beat the Miami Heat 147-129 on Wednesday night.

Tatum finished with 25 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists for Boston, which scored 53 points in the first quarter — a franchise record that tied the second-highest total for an opening quarter in NBA history. Sam Hauser added 23 for the Celtics, who are 31-0 when scoring at least 117 points this season and are 10-1 in their last 11 games following a loss.

Boston’s barrage is now tied for the second-highest-scoring first quarter in NBA regular-season history. Golden State had a 55-point opening quarter at Portland on April 9, 2023, and Miami had a 53-point opening quarter against Charlotte on Nov. 7.

“Getting to the paint, getting to the basket and finishing. I think that was the catalyst,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said.

“I thought we executed pretty well,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “There’s times when you execute well and you get good shot after good shot. It just kind of happens. Usually when you’re in moments like that and you start to feel it, you take poor shots. We didn’t do that. We kept fighting for a good look, the next best look and I thought that kind of kept the momentum going a little bit.”

The Celtics led by as many as 27, then saw the lead trimmed to as little as nine early in the fourth quarter. Boston (51-25) holds the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference race, four games behind No. 1 Detroit.

Bam Adebayo had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Miami, which tied a franchise record by hitting 24 3-pointers. The Heat made 24 on three other occasions.

Davion Mitchell scored 21, while Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson each scored 18 and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 17 for the Heat (40-37).

Miami remained in the No. 10 spot in the East play-in race. The Heat are a half-game behind No. 8 Orlando and No. 9 Charlotte, teams both with 40-36 records.

The Celtics made 11 of their first 13 shots on the way to the sizzling start, then closed the first quarter on a 24-3 run that turned a one-point deficit into a 20-point lead — and that burst came in just over four minutes.

Boston’s lead was 80-57 at halftime and the Celtics scored the first four points of the second half to push the margin to 27.

The 53 first-quarter points was the second-highest total Boston ever had in a quarter; the Celtics had 54 in the fourth period of a game against the San Diego Clippers on Feb. 25, 1970. And it was the most points Miami ever allowed in any quarter; the Heat gave up 50 in the fourth quarter of a game at Seattle on Jan. 5, 1990.

Boston made 11 3-pointers in the opening quarter, with Hauser going 5 for 5 from beyond the arc while playing all 12 minutes. Brown had 20 points by himself in the quarter — the ninth 20-point quarter of his career, including playoffs — and Hauser finished with 17 in the quarter.

“Sam has been really shooting the ball really well all season. … Sam has been in his bag,” Brown said.

Tatum also with 18 rebounds and 11 assists, had his first triple double of the season, after missing much of the year while recovering from the Achilles tendon tear he suffered in last season’s playoffs.

“It was just high-level shotmaking on both ends,” Tatum said.

Up next

Celtics: Visit Milwaukee on Friday.

Heat: Host Washington on Saturday.