Celtics keep NBA dream alive with Miami mauling in bid to break brutal 0-in-150 record
Boston poured in 16 three-pointers in a dominant 110-97 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday that stored the Celtics alive within the NBA championship chase.
For the second straight recreation the Celtics fended off elimination, slicing the deficit within the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals to 3-2 with the wire-to-wire triumph.
Miami will attempt once more to shut it out once they host recreation six on Saturday. The Celtics shall be attempting to take yet another step towards turning into the primary NBA group to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff sequence – one thing no group has finished in 150 earlier sequence.
“The only thing that can stop us is us,” Celtics ahead Jaylen Brown stated in an on-court interview.
“They let us get two, so don’t let us get another one,” Brown declared.
It comes after pundit Richard Jefferson boldly declared on NBA Today: “Boston is going to be the first team to come back.”
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Before a rapturous, raucous crowd at TD Garden in Boston, the Celtics appeared each inch the favourites they have been earlier than the sequence began — earlier than the upstart eighth-seeded Heat grabbed the primary two video games in Boston then embarrassed the second seeds in recreation three.
Four Celtics starters scored greater than 20 factors, Derrick White main the way in which with 24 on an evening when he made six of eight makes an attempt from three-point vary.
Marcus Smart added 23 whereas Brown and fellow star ahead Jayson Tatum scored 21 apiece.
More importantly, the Celtics harried the Heat into 16 turnovers that led to 27 Boston factors and so they had 17 second-chance factors in comparison with Miami’s seven.
“Tonight we were the tougher playing team,” Brown stated. “We set the tone from start to finish.”
Boston have been locked in on each ends of the ground from the opening tip-off, roaring to a 23-7 lead in a matter of minutes.
After Tatum was whistled for a technical foul with 8:43 within the first quarter the Celtics responded with three consecutive three-pointers.
Tatum scored 12 factors within the first quarter and Brown took over with 12 within the second.
Meanwhile Heat talisman Jimmy Butler struggled to get going, scoring eight factors within the first half and ending with 14 — his lowest scoring recreation of the playoffs. He sat out a lot of the fourth quarter.
Duncan Robinson led the Heat with 18 factors off the bench. Bam Adebayo scored 16 factors however coughed up six turnovers.
Kyle Lowry beginning at level guard after Gabe Vincent was dominated out with a sprained ankle, scored 5 factors with 4 turnovers.
The Heat, who gained the NBA title in 2006, 2012 and 2013, nonetheless solely want yet another win to succeed in a seventh NBA Finals.
Boston, whose 17 NBA titles are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for probably the most in historical past, final gained all of it in 2008 and got here up brief in final season’s championship sequence in opposition to the Golden State Warriors.
The winners of the sequence will play the Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets, who swept the Lakers in 4 video games to succeed in the NBA Finals for the primary time.
