The Boston Celtics made things interesting in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Celtics, after falling into a historic insurmountable 0-3 series hole, picked up their second straight dominating win on Thursday night at TD Garden. They defeated the Miami Heat, 110-97 in Game 5 of the series in Boston, forcing a Game 6 on Saturday night in South Florida.
While no team has successfully rallied from a 0-3 series deficit before, and the Celtics have a long way to go to finish that and reach their second straight NBA Finals, their past two wins have shown that they can pulling. from that feat.
The Celtics took off almost immediately on Thursday night. They held Miami to just 5 points through the first seven minutes of the game while jumping up 15 points. Derrick White then hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, his seventh of the quarter, to give Boston a 35-20 lead at the first break.
While the Heat cut the game to 11 points a few times midway through the second, Boston closed the quarter strong to take a 17-point lead into the locker room. At that time, the Heat’s starters only scored 19 points.
At that time, the Heat seemed to be doing well. Any attempt they tried to make in the third, Boston responded perfectly. The Celtics outscored Miami by one point in the period, and led by 18 points in the fourth quarter. Any Heat run was long gone at that point, and head coach Erik Spoelstra pulled his starters midway through the period. Despite Miami cutting the Celtics’ lead a bit in the final moments, Boston cruised to a 13-point victory without issue.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Jimmy Butler finished with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. They are the only two Heat starters who scored double figures. The Heat were without Gabe Vincent, who sprained his ankle late in Game 4 of the series.
White led the Celtics with 24 points in the victory. Marcus Smart added 23 points, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points. Overall, that group combined for 89 of Boston’s 110 total points. They shot nearly 51% from the field as a team, and went 16-of-39 from behind the arc. Boston is only the third team in NBA history to force a Game 6 after losing the first three games of the series as the team with a higher winning percentage, too. by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
The Celtics’ victory on Thursday followed a 17-point victory in Game 4 on Tuesday in Miami, where Tatum dropped 33 points and pulled the Celtics out of a 9-point second-half hole to grab the win and keep them. alive in the postseason.
Game 6 of the series is scheduled for Saturday night at the Kaseya Center in Miami. While teams that go up 3-0 are outright 150-0, the Heat don’t want the Eastern Conference finals to reach Game 7 in Boston next week. That makes things very interesting.
