The Boston Celtics put six players in double figures and outscored the Miami Heat by 20 in the second half Friday night, on their way to a 121-108 win in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Miami still leads the best of seven series 3-2.
Boston started the game ice cold hitting 1 of their first 12 shots, and a 12-0 Miami run had the Heat up 17-5. The Celtics scored the next eight points, but the Heat scored nine of the next 12 to push it back to a ten point advantage. Duncan Robinson had 12 first quarter points and Miami led 26-18 at the end of the opening 12 minutes, as Boston shot just 5-20 from the floor. The green couldn’t cut much into the deficit to start the second quarter, and a little hook shot near the rim by Bam Adebayo made it a 12 point lead again for Miami with 6:55 to go in the first half at 40-28. The Celts would cut it to four on a Kemba Walker three-point shot, but it was still the Heat up 58-51 at the break.
Boston would turn the tide in the third quarter outscoring Miami 41-25. The Celtics would lead by as many as 14, keyed by a 13-0 run for their first lead of the night to start the period after the Heat had scored the opening basket. Jayson Tatum had a huge 12 minutes with 17 points as they took a nine point lead to the fourth quarter. Miami would cut it to seven on the first possession of the final quarter, but that is as close as they would get. Boston would eventually build it to 19 on a Tatum three point play and live to play again on Sunday night in a game six.
Tatum led the way in the Boston win with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. Jaylen Brown had 28 points and eight rebounds. Also in double figures was Daniel Theis and Walker with 15 points a piece. Theis had a double double as he added 13 rebounds. Walker had seven assists. Marcus Smart contributed 12 points and eight rebounds, and Gordon Hayward also had 10 points. Goran Dragic had 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists in the Miami loss before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Robinson finished with 20 points. The Heat also put a total of six players in double figures as Jimmy Butler had 17, Jae Crowder and Tyler Herro 14 a piece, and Adebayo had 13 points. Miami shot 7-36 from three point range in the game (19.4%). Boston made 25-29 from the foul line, including 12-13 in the decisive third quarter as they ended up scoring 70 second half points. Game six is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sunday night.
