With an unquestionable display of basketball, the boston celtics they overwhelmed this Thursday the Miami Heat (110-97) and reconfirmed the victory harvested two days earlier in Miami to get closer to 2-3 in the NBA East Finals and fuel their ambitions to achieve an unprecedented comeback after trailing 0-3 in the series.
The Celtics are at their best when they’re up against the wall. That of the TD Garden was their fourth victory in these ‘playoffs’ in games of life and death and the pressure increases for the Heat, with Joe Mazzulla’s men who will arrive in Miami on Saturday for the sixth game with a tailwind despite continuing to down in the series.
It’s a fight against history for the Celtics, 17-time NBA champions. No franchise has managed to advance after going down 3-0 in a playoff series in 150 precedents. After his exhibition at the TD Garden, Boston is halfway there.
The Celtics got used to the ups and downs, who already had a very slow start to the regular season last year, before taking off and flying to the Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Even that season, however, Boston was far from invincible in the Garden and in two years its record at home in the playoffs was 10-11 before this clash.
The answer was clear and forceful. The TD Garden hosted a monologue from the Celtics, who took advantage from the beginning and never let it go again, beyond seeing their income reduce in the last minutes, with no stars on the track. They always win in this postseason when they exceed 40% on three-point shots and this Thursday they sealed 16 of their 39 attempts (41%).
Marcus Smart contributed 23 points, with four triples, Jayson Tatum contributed 21 points, eight rebounds and eleven assists and Jaylen Brown contributed 21. In the Heat, who still cannot count on Tyler Herro due to a broken hand and who also could not line up Gabe Vincent with a sprained ankle, Jimmy Butler did not go beyond fourteen points and Bam Adebayo scored 16. Erik Spoelstra’s team had a good contribution from their bench, with 18 points from Duncan Robinson, 15 from Haywood Highsmith and 14 from Caleb Martin, but he never had an advantage in the duel.
The Celtics go out to bite
It was played in a packed TD Garden, prepared for big occasions, and the Celtics came out to bite from the first moment, aggressive on every play, forceful from the three-point line and seasoned in rebounding.
Four Celtics players already had double figures in a first half of 61 points, led by Jaylen Brown’s fifteen and Derrick White’s fourteen; Tatum was twelve and Marcus Smart was thirteen. It was the latter, the best defenseman of last year, to connect the triple in the first period that culminated a 12-0 run by the Celtics to begin to put land in the middle (18-5).
In that play, the work of Horford stood out, who captured one of his three offensive rebounds in the first half and provided an assist. Another triple, this time signed by White at the buzzer of the first quarter, sent clear signals to the Heat, who trailed by fifteen points after the first period and touched the deficit twenty in the second after suffering a new 12-3 (61- 41). Boston shot over 40% in that first half and already had thirteen second-chance points in the first half.
White, a sniper
In both Game 1 and Game 2 of this series, the Celtics blew double-digit leads in the Garden. They did not make that mistake again this Thursday. Dominant from start to finish, they continued to hurt the Heat from 3-point range, fueled by White, a sharpshooter, and Marcus Smart.
The advantage reached 23 points, with Tatum also dedicating himself to giving rhythm to his teammates (five assists), and the Heat, despite ten points from Bam Adebayo, found no answers to contain the local momentum. White finished his game with six of eight on three-pointers and was the top scorer for the Celtics who increased his lead to 24 points at 96-72. All this turned the last minutes into a formality and Mazzulla rested his stars with his eyes already set on the sixth game. Spoelstra did the same with his leaders.
Of course, the drop in concentration of the Celtics was used by the Heat to get ten points, although the duel was already sentenced. A series that seemed already doomed three days ago is now open, with the Celtics halfway to a historic miracle.
EFE
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