The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 93-80 on Wednesday night to grab a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final series. Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, Jayson Tatum added 22, and the Celtics are on the verge of making the NBA Finals.
For the Celtics, Al Horford scored 16 points and Derrick White added 14. Tatum had 12 rebounds and nine assists in the game.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 18 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 32 percent in the game after shooting 33 percent in Boston's 20-point triumph in Game 4. For Miami, Gabe Vincent had 15 points, Jimmy Butler had 13 points, and Duncan Robinson had 11 points.
The Heat shot 7 for 45 from beyond the arc.
Game 6 will take place in Boston on Friday night, with a pair of freshly named trophies honoring Celtics luminaries. The East champions receive the Bob Cousy trophy, while the East finals MVP receives the Larry Bird trophy, and the Celtics are one win away from being the first team to win both.
A 44-14 Miami run in Game 1, a 60-21 Boston run in Game 2, a 46-20 Miami surge to start Game 3 followed by a 57-33 Boston run in the same game, and a 26-4 burst by the Celtics to open Game 4 – this series has witnessed tremendous momentum shifts.
Game 5's run was equally one-sided.
Celtics 24, Heat 2 over a 6 1/2-minute period in the second half. 59-58 Boston to 83-60 Boston was the turnaround, and that was the end of it.
In the third quarter, Boston outscored Miami 32-16, restricting the Heat to just 17 percent shooting. The advantage was just 11 at the time, but the game was soon out of reach. Boston started the fourth quarter on a 14-2 run, with Brown topping the outburst with three 3-pointers in two and a half minutes, extending the advantage to 23 points.
Brown then sealed the deal with a down-the-lane slam with 5:19 remaining, extending the margin to 18 and putting Boston on notice.
Since 2010, the Celtics haven't made it to the NBA Finals. Since then, the team has made four visits to the Eastern Conference finals, losing two to Miami and two to Cleveland. There were also two occasions when the Celtics had a chance to win the conference title merely by winning a game at home — Game 6 against the Heat in 2012 and Game 7 against the Cavaliers in 2018.
They lost both, with LeBron James serving as the official thwarter in both, scoring 45 points in the 2012 game to rescue Miami and 35 in 2018 final to elevate Cleveland.
He won't get in the way of the Celtics on Friday night.
Someone with a semblance of an imitation will be required in Miami.
In the first half, the offense was scarce, but Miami's defense looked to be giving the Heat optimism. Miami led 17-19 after one quarter and 42-37 at halftime. At halftime, Tatum was 1 for 9 from the field and Butler was 2 for 8, with both teams shooting 37.8% from the field and 21.6 percent from 3-point range.
It was the lowest-scoring first half of a conference finals game since the Heat and Indiana combined for 75 points at halftime in a 93-90 Pacers victory on May 28, 2014.
Miami, for some reason, became cooler to begin the second half. The Celtics, on the other hand, did not.
After missing their first nine shots after the break, the Heat didn't get anything to fall until Butler fended off contact and scored on a drive with 6:53 left in the third to get Miami within 49-48.
The Celtics, on the other hand, quickly took command of the game — and the series.
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