Bam Adebayo had a team high 31 points, as the Miami Heat built a 26 point first half lead and then held off a furious second half comeback attempt by the Boston Celtics for a 109-103 win at TD Garden in Boston in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami now leads the best of seven series 2-1.
After a Boston blowout win in Miami in Game 2, the Heat turned the tide and stunned the capacity Garden crowd by running out to a 21 point lead after one quarter as the Celtics started just 2-12 from the field. When Caleb Martin nailed a three-pointer 2:17 into the second the guests had extended the advantage to 46-20. Boston was able to gain some momentum by ending the period on a 10-0 run, including a last second pullup three-pointer by Jayson Tatum to cut the margin to 62-47 at the halftime break.
Jimmy Butler didn’t return for Miami in the second half due to knee inflammation, and just over a minute into the third quarter Marcus Smart looked as if he had seriously rolled his ankle limping off to the locker room. Smart would return about four minutes later, and a three-pointer by Al Horford got Boston as close as they had been since very early in the first at 74-65. The green though couldn’t hold the momentum however, as some big minutes and baskets from Victor Oladipo pushed the lead for the Heat back to 87-72 headed to the fourth quarter. In a game that saw its share of injuries, Tatum went down and stayed down for a while with what looked to be a strain to his right shoulder and went back to the locker room with 5:18 left. Tatum would return 1:38 later, and the Celtics kept battling as Jaylen Brown buried a long 25 foot three-pointer to cap off a 12-0 run slicing the deficit to just one point 93-92 with still 2:40 to play. Max Strus responded with a long three-pointer of his own on the next possession for Miami, as they scored the next seven points to put the game away and take back the homecourt advantage.
Adebayo added 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals, and one block in the Miami win. PJ Tucker had 17 points, and Strus finished with 16. Kyle Lowry in his return to the lineup and first of this series would score 11 points, dish out six assists, and had four steals in 29 minutes. Brown led all scorers with a career playoff high 40 points for Boston, and also contributing nine rebounds. Brown also became the first player in the shot clock era (1954-55) to score 40 points in a playoff game without missing a two-point shot (11-11 from inside the arc). The bad part of his game was committing seven turnovers, as the Celtics had 23 of those on the night leading to many easy baskets for the Heat. Horford had 20 points and 14 rebounds, Smart 16 points with seven assists, while both Tatum and Grant Williams got into double figures with 10 points a piece. Tatum shot just 3-14 from the floor. The C’s played without Robert Williams III, who was out due to left knee soreness that also hampered him in the Milwaukee series. Game 4 in Boston is Monday night with tipoff shortly after 8:30 p.m.
