2023-05-30 05:37:49
Miami stormed the TD Garden and defeated 103-84 to the Boston Celticsconfirming the historical statistics that state that no team has managed to come back from 3-0 in the ‘play-offs’ and closing out the Eastern Finals tie 4-3 in the seventh and final game. They go on to the NBA Finals, where Denver awaits them with many more rest days and the Jokic-Murray couple sharpening their knives. Derrick White, with 18 points, was the support of a team orphaned by Tatum, who was injured on practically the first play of the game and who still managed to finish with 14 points and 11 rebounds. However, the ‘Proud Greens’ paid dearly for the horrendous game by Jaylen Brown who, although he was the team’s top scorer with 19 points, had a horrific 8 of 23 shooting, including 1 of 9 from three-point range, and who ended up embellishing some terrible statistics with 8 losses. Plus, no one in Boston seemed capable of hitting it from beyond the arc: The Celtics finished a disastrous 9 of 42 on 3-pointers (21.4%).
On the other side, some Miami Heat who did not pay the price for the terrible mental blow that was the winning basket on the buzzer of Derrick White in the sixth game. Guided by a stratospheric Caleb Martin, who signed 26 points and 10 rebounds with a magnificent 11 of 16 shooting, the Florida men quickly took leads of close to ten points and never let go. Jimmy Butler also redeemed himself from his last bad games and finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
The first minute of the game was running and the score was still 0-0. Jayson Tatum jumped for a shot, twisting his ankle as he fell off-balance from contact with Gabe Vincent. He kept playing, but the winces were evident, and you could see that he was clearly depleted. That was the first indication that Boston was in for a rough night.
The second clue came in the form of a terrible exterior blunder. The Celtics needed thirteen attempts for their first three-pointer to go on the scoreboard. Too much advantage for the Heat who, led by an absolutely unchained Caleb Martin, left with an advantage from the beginning. the first quarter ended 22-15 for visitors.
Although Boston tried to throw defense to reduce the difference, Miami was much more comfortable than it was seen in the fifth and sixth games. They didn’t let the Celtics get hooked for good and kept the leads to manageable margins. So much so that they took the second quarter 30-26 to go to rest eleven up (52-41).
The third period seemed like the awakening of Boston. Pushed by a very connected TD Garden, and helped by the poor attacking performance of Bam Adebayo, who finished with just 12 points (although complemented with 10 rebounds and 7 assists), the Massachusetts team came up with White’s hand and arrived to be within five before Miami got back together. Caleb Martin decided there had been enough excitement, hit a pair of 3-pointers and a buzzer-beater basket on the swing, and the Heat controlled the damage until losing the fourth by just one, 24-25 (76-66).
That was as far as the Celtics’ push came, who missed too much someone pitching in against Derrick White’s effort. With Tatum limping (despite which he played 41 minutes) and Brown having a horrible game, the contribution of Smart (9 points), Horford (8 points and 8 rebounds) and Robert Williams (8 points and 6 rebounds) seemed insufficient. to take the victory. Miami smelled blood and jumped at the neck. Triple after triple to finish with a magnificent 14 of 28 on the outside shot, the Heat went up 17 in the blink of an eye and the game ended there. Boston threw in the towel and the last six minutes were a process in which Miami, despite already having its head in the first game of the Finals in Denver, was up 23 points.
After the final buzzer sounded, the Heat celebrated the move after a traumatic Game 7 loss to Boston in Miami in last year’s Eastern Finals. Jimmy Butler was named MVP of the tie and now Miami, who had already bought the plane tickets to travel to Colorado tonight, will face a very rested Nuggets in the final series that starts early Thursday morning through Friday.
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