Jimmy Butler scored a career playoff high 47 points (26 in the second half) on Friday night, as the Miami Heat forced a decisive Game 7 back at home with a 111-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden in Boston.
Miami after a real bad shooting night in the Game 5 loss, got off to a great start. Butler scored 14 points in the first quarter, as the Heat didn’t trail and led by as many as nine. After hitting 7-45 from three-point range in the previous game, they hit 5-8 in the opening 12 minutes and led 29-22. With Miami leading 32-24 early in the second, Jayson Tatum scored seven straight points with a three-pointer, a dunk, and a fadeaway two point jumpshot to slice it to 32-31. The Heat would regain a seven point lead before the Celtics would run off eight straight points, finished off with a Jaylen Brown three point play for their first lead of the night 41-40. Boston would lead by four, but the guests scored the final six of the quarter and took a 48-46 advantage to the halftime break. Butler, who averaged nine points per game in the last three outings, nearly put up a double double in the first 24 minutes with 21 points and nine rebounds as his team shot 8-16 from long distance. The green were able to keep it close by forcing 12 turnovers, and attempting 13 free throws (13-13) to just six for the Heat (6-6). Tatum and Brown (18 points each) had 36 of the 46 points for the hosts.
Boston had just one lead in the third quarter on a Tatum three-pointer just over a minute in. Miami continued to shoot well scoring 34 points going up as many as 13 on a pair of Victor Oladipo free throws with 2:08 left in the period. The Celtics were able to close it within 82-75 headed to the fourth. Boston continued to battle, including getting a big night off the bench from Derrick White. After trailing by nine, White hit a three-pointer and a short jumper to slice it to 89-85. The C’s would finally catch the Heat when Al Horford hit a three-pointer to even the score 94-94 with 5:31 left to play. They took their first lead since the second quarter when White buried a three just 48 seconds later. Kyle Lowry, who also had some big shots for Miami, hit one of his own from long range to tie it back up just 22 seconds after the White shot. Lowry hit two free throws to make it 99-97 Heat with 3:36 remaining, and they never trailed again. Brown missed two from the line with the score 99-99, and Butler came down and converted a three point play on the other end. Butler had the dagger for a six point lead with a 20 foot turnaround jumper as the shot clock expired off an inbounds pass with just 43.9 seconds left.
Tatum led Boston in the loss with 30 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals. He only attempted one shot in the final quarter. White finished with 22 points, three rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Brown added 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals (only scoring two points in the second half). Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III also got into double figures with 14 and 12 points respectively. Butler tacked on nine rebounds, eight assists, four steals, and one blocked shot in his spectular effort playing 46 of 48 minutes. Butler recorded his second 40+ point game in the series, as he had 41 in the Game 1 Miami win. He joined Kobe Bryant as the only other player to have at least three postseason games in the same year with 40 or more points and one turnover or less, since they started tracking turnovers in the 1977-78 season. Lowry would put in 18 points with 10 assists before fouling out late in the game. Max Strus with 13 and PJ Tucker with 11 points rounded out the double digit scorers for the Heat, who more than doubled their three-point output from Game 5 (15-7). Both teams shot excellent from the foul line as Miami was 24-25, and Boston went 28-31. Game 7 will tipoff at 8:40 p.m. Sunday night at FTX Arena in Miami. The winner heads to the NBA Finals to play the Golden State Warriors.
