The Boston Celtics outscored the Miami Heat 66-43 in the second half on Tuesday night, and stayed alive in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 116-99 victory at the Kaseya Center in South Beach. Miami still has command with a 3-1 series lead, with the teams headed back to Boston for a game five.
Boston had a much better start as they bolted out to a 10-4 lead just over two minutes into action. Miami responded with an 11-2 run to take their first lead on a Kevin Love three-pointer, and would lead the remainder of the first half by as many as nine points. The Heat had a 56-50 advantage at the halftime break.
Jayson Tatum had a huge second half to help turn the tide of the basketball game and keep the season alive for his team. After trailing by nine again on a three-pointer by Max Strus early in the third quarter, Boston took back their lead for the first time since the opening quarter at 63-61 on a layup by Jaylen Brown four minutes in. That was part of an 18-0 run to take a nine point lead, holding the home team to no points for a span of 4:28. After Miami did cut it to four late in the period on a three point play by Cody Zeller, the Celtics closed it out strong helped by three-pointers by Marcus Smart, two by Grant Williams, and three makes from the floor by Tatum who had 14 points in the quarter. The green led by nine heading to the fourth. A floating jumper by Kyle Lowry got the Heat within five with 9:41 to play, but that’s as close as they’d get. A 12-0 run by Boston over the next 2:16 put it away capped off by a Smart three-pointer for a 17 point lead. The biggest lead was 18 as Tatum put up 25 points in the second half as the Celtics survived to see another day.
Tatum would finish with a game-high 33 points. He added 11 rebounds, seven assists, one steal, and two blocked shots and shot 14-22 from the floor (4-9 three-pointers). Tatum passed Paul Pierce for three-pointers made in franchise playoff history with 223. All five of the Boston starters got into double figures, as Brown scored 17 points, Derrick White 16, Al Horford 12, and Smart contributed 11 points. Grant Williams was big off the bench with 14 points and hit 4-6 on three-point attempts. Jimmy Butler had 29 points, nine rebounds, and five assists for Miami in their first home loss of the playoffs (7-1). Gabe Vincent had 17 points, Caleb Martin 16, and Bam Adebayo added 10 points. The Celtics hit 18-45 (40%) from the three-point line, while the Heat shot just 8-32 (25%) from behind the arc. This was the seventh time in postseason history that Boston was down 3-0 in a series, and they had lost game four to get swept in four of the previous six times that has happened. Game five at TD Garden is Thursday night at 8:30 p.m.
Story by Chris Lessner/Highlight video is courtesy of the NBA website
