In what has been a series of big scoring runs for both teams, the Boston Celtics bounced back after a disappointing Game 3 home loss by jumping out to an early 18-1 lead and later leading by as many as 32 in tying up the Eastern Conference Finals by beating the Miami Heat 102-82 in Game 4 at TD Garden on Monday night. The series is now 2-2, with Game 5 back in Miami on Wednesday.
Boston didn’t trail once and held Miami without a field goal for the first 8:38 of action, and led 29-11 after the opening 12 minutes. The 11 points for the Heat was the lowest first quarter output they’ve had in any first quarter in franchise playoff history, and the one point they had through the first eight plus minutes was the lowest by any team in any NBA playoff game in the last quarter century. The C’s built that advantage to as many as 27 in the second, and Jayson Tatum who has been dealing with a stinger in his left shoulder that he suffered in the Game 3 loss scored 24 first half points after only putting in a game total of 10 on Saturday night. The Celtics went to the locker room up 57-33.
The biggest lead was 69-37 on a pair of Al Horford free throws with 7:26 left in the third quarter. Miami top scorer Jimmy Butler, who missed the second half on Saturday with knee inflammation, would leave the game and not return with 4:04 left in the period. Duncan Robinson helped make the final score look better with the Celtics resting their starters late, by putting in 12 points on the strength of 4 three-pointers in the fourth for Miami.
Tatum was the game high scorer with 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two blocked shots in the Boston win. Payton Pritchard had 14 points off the bench. Also in double figures was Derrick White with 13 points, and Jaylen Brown along with Robert Williams III with 12 points a piece. White added eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals, Brown had seven rebounds, and Williams III had nine rebounds and two blocks. White was starting in place of Marcus Smart, who missed the contest with some swelling in his sprained right ankle that also happened in Game 3. Horford was also a game changer. Despite only five points, Horford had 13 rebounds, three assists, and four blocks. Williams III, who has been dealing with knee soreness the entire playoffs played 18 minutes and helped hold Miami center Bam Adebayo to nine points on the night after Adebayo put up 31 Saturday. Tatum was a plus-37 and Horford a plus-32 in the victory. Victor Oladipo would lead the Heat with 23 points, four rebounds, and six assists off the bench. The Miami starters combined for just 18 points (6-36 shooting). Robinson finished with 14 points, and Caleb Martin had 12. Tyler Herro didn’t play due to a groin injury. A big free throw disparity in the game, as the Celtics had 38 attempts (32-38) and the Heat only 14 (8-14) from the charity stripe. A big pivotal Game 5 Wednesday from FTX Arena in Miami is scheduled to start shortly after 8:30 p.m. Each game so far in the series has had one team or the other up by 20+ points.
