2024-04-22 00:38:47
The Celtics, the winner of this season’s main tournament, beat the Miami Heat 114:94 (26:21, 34:24, 31:14, 23:35) at home in the first game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals and reached 1-0 in the four-game winning streak.
Porzingis spent 34 minutes and seven seconds on the court, during which he made four of eight long-range shots and three of five two-point shots, grabbed four rebounds, gave one assist, one steal, blocked two shots, committed two fouls and three fouls. “Celtics” scored 17 points more than they allowed with Porzingis on the court.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with a triple-double, scoring 23 points, grabbing ten rebounds and dishing out ten assists, Derrick White scored 20 points, and Jaylen Brown had 17 points and eight rebounds. Boston basketball players made 22 long-range shots, which is a repeated team record in the playoffs.
For the opponents, Bem Adebayo scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds, Delon Wright had 17 points, and Jaime Haques Jr. had 16 points. Jimmy Butler cannot help the “Heat” team in the opening round of the playoffs due to injury.
The Bostonians started the game with nine unanswered points, with Porzingis also making one shot. Until the first substitution in the ninth minute of the match, the Latvian was the leader of the “Celtics” team with seven points, while the home team’s lead exceeded ten points at one point.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Bostonians remained in the lead only thanks to Sam Hauser’s three accurate long shots. Porzingis returned to the field seven minutes before the end of the first half, when “Celtics” had restored a safe lead (46:30). In the last three minutes of the half, Porzingis made two long shots, the Liepāja man excelling with 13 points in the first 24 minutes. At the break, “Celtics” went with a 15-point advantage (60:45).
In the second half, the home team’s accurate attacks from a distance continued and another accurate “three” was added by Porzingis, who also worked successfully in defense. Meanwhile, the team’s lead exceeded 30 points before the final 12 minutes of the match.
Although the “Celtics” advantage was significant, the team also put the main team players on the field in the last quarter, and the “Heat” team managed to close to 15 points after several accurate long shots by Delon Wright. In the last minutes, the Bostonians did not allow the visitors to significantly reduce the advantage and celebrated the victory at the beginning of the elimination tournament.
The second game of the series will take place on April 24 in Boston, on April 27 and 29 there will be away matches, but if more than four games are needed in the series, they will take place on May 1 in Boston, on May 3 away and on May 5 at the “Celtics” field.
After passing the first round, they will face the Cleveland Cavaliers or Orlando Magic in the second round.
In the previous season, the Denver “Nuggets” defeated the Miami “Heat” 4-1 in the final series and won the NBA championship for the first time in history.
2024-04-22 00:38:47