The Boston Celtics have officially made things interesting in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics, after falling into a historically insurmountable 0-3 series hole, earned their second straight major win Thursday night at TD Garden. They shut out the Miami Heat 110–97 in Game 5 of the series in Boston, which forced a Saturday night Game 6 in South Florida.
While no team has ever recovered from an 0-3 series deficit before, and the Celtics have a long way to go to actually do so and reach their second straight NBA Finals, their previous two wins At least show they’re capable of pulling off that feat.
The Celtics took off on Thursday night almost immediately. He held Miami to only five points in the first seven minutes of the game, while scoring 15 points almost immediately. Derrick White drilled 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 in the middle of the second, Boston closed the quarter strong to take a 17-point lead into the locker room. At that point, the Heat starters had scored only 19 combined points.
By then the Heat seemed well out of it. Whatever move they tried to make in the third, Boston responded with aplomb. The Celtics trailed Miami by one point in the period, and took an 18-point lead into the fourth quarter. Any Heat run was long gone at that point, and coach Erik Spoelstra pulled his starters down the middle. While the Heat cut the deficit a bit in the final minutes, Boston rolled to a 13-point victory without issue.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 16 points and eight rebounds. Jimmy Butler finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. They were the only two Heat starters to score in double digits. The Heat were without Gabe Vincent on Thursday night, who sprained his ankle late in Game 4 of the series.
White led the Celtics with 24 points in the win. Marcus Smart added 23 points, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both scored 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 now just the third team in NBA history to force a Game 6 after losing their first three games in a series, as even the team with the higher winning percentage, According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps,
The Celtics’ blowout win on Thursday followed a 17-point win in Game 4 in Miami on Tuesday, where Tatum dropped 33 points to lead the Celtics out of a nine-point second-half hole and win and retain the title. Survive them in the postseason.
Game 6 of the series is scheduled for Saturday night at the KCea Center in Miami. While teams that go up 3-0 are perfect for 150-0, the Heat don’t want to let the Eastern Conference Finals get to Game 7 next week in Boston. This would really make things interesting.
This post will be updated soon with more information.
