On 16 July 2016, the Celtics and Heat returned to North Highland Assembly of God's Church Gymnasium for Game Two of the NOSBL XVI Eastern Division Playoffs. The Celtics won game one, on 14 July 2016, 69 - 65.
Before the playoffs started, it was noted that no win would be considered an upset because, for the first time, all teams were evenly constructed to win the National Old School Basketball League Title. The Celtics reported to terminate the Heat and the Heat returned to make a better attempt at finishing what they walked away from on Thursday.
The starters for the Celtics were: #23 Tim Sanks, #24 Jerel Jackson, #1 Al Wilson, #15 Christopher None, and #2 Steve Woodson.
The starters for the Heat were: #3 Michael Brown, #11 Norman King, #13 Donald Brophy, #4 Bryan Short, and #17 Felton Scott.
The Officials were Royzell Smith and Willie Smith.
The game started with the Heat winning the tip-off and wasting no time to score with Michael Brown connecting on a 3-point shot. That would be the start of a barrage of points coming from the Heat as they attacked the Celtics. Seven Heat players scored in the first half. With Felton Scott leading the charge from inside and outside, the door was left open for Michael Brown, Norman King, and Tim Elder to score on seven 3-pointers. Scott scored on a 3-pointer, as well. Jerel Jackson, being the Celtics 3-point specialist, only made two 3-point shots in the first half. The Celtics had four players to score with Jerel Jackson and Tim Sanks combining for 23 points. What was so impressive, for the Heat, was that they played with quick hands and feet when defending the ball. That caused the Celtics to turn the ball over and miss a lot of makable shots (for the Celtics). What was clear - is that the Heat did not want to go home. Michael Brown scored 17 points and Felton Scott scored 9 points to lead the Heat to a 45 - 37 first half lead. The Celtics committed five team fouls and the Heat committed four.
The second half was a continuation of the first. The Heat extended their lead to 21 by 11:40 remaining in the game. The Celtics stepped up and went on a 7 - 0 run to cut the lead to 49 - 63 with 9:22 remaining in the game. That run caused the Heat to call a timeout and regroup. That was an effective timeout because the Celtics had identified their target and were on the attack. They took Michael Brown out of the scoring game. Brown did not score any points in the second half. That left six players to do the scoring. Felton Scott, Christopher Alexander, and Bryan Short carried the torch to keep the pressure on the Celtics. With 6:50 remaining in the game, Michael Brown fouled out with the score 55 - 69 in favor of the Heat. That is a lot time for the Celtics to work their magic if the Heat fail to correct their past mistakes of closing out games. The Celtics committed eight team fouls contributing to 7 points for the Heat. The Heat committed nine team fouls contributing to 4 points for the Celtics. The Heat did the unusual, for themselves, and found a way to hold on to a lead and finished strong. They defeated the Celtics 80 - 67 to tie the series at 1 - 1.
They will return to the gymnasium on Monday, 18 July, for the win-or-go-home game. The game will start at 7:00 P.M..
The scorers for the Heat were: #17 Felton Scott with 19 points, #3 Michael Brown with 17 points, #11 Norman King with 13 points, #27 Christopher Alexander with 13 points, #4 Bryan Short with 9 points, #8 Antonio Anthony with 4 points, #14 Tim Elder with 3 points, and #13 Donald Brophy with 2 points.
The scorers for the Celtics were: #24 Jerel Jackson with 21 points, #2 Steve Woodson with 17 points, #23 Tim Sanks with 14 points, #1 Al Wilson with 6 points, #15 Christopher None with 4 points, #8 Jerald Mahone with 3 points, and #22 Johnny Vasquez with 2 points.