History could not be completed on Monday night. Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin combined to score 54 points on 23-44 shooting, as the Miami Heat went into TD Garden and cruised past the Boston Celtics 103-84 in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston was attempting to set NBA history by becoming the first team to rally from a 3-0 postseason series deficit and win it. That history is safe for now as teams are now 151-0 all-time when ahead 3-0. The #8 seed Miami now advances to the NBA Finals for the seventh time and will square off with the Denver Nuggets.
After taking an early 9-4 lead in the first four minutes, Boston cooled off from the floor including missing their first 12 three-point attempts (4-21 first half). Miami went on a 14-4 run to gain the advantage for good, and one of the undrafted players for the Heat continued to play big in the series as Martin had 14 points over the first 24 minutes of action. After leading by seven after one quarter, they continued to turn it on and a Duncan Robinson layup extended it to 38-21 with 7:32 left in the second period. The Celtics would trim it to single digits at 47-39 on a Jayson Tatum driving layup, but Butler answered on the other end with a three-pointer. Tatum only had seven attempts from the floor (seven points) in the first half after rolling his ankle on a foul on Bam Adebayo on the first possession of the game as Miami led at the half 52-41.
A shot in the lane by Butler early in the third quarter pushed the Miami lead back up to 16 at 59-43. With Tatum hobbled, Derrick White stepped up for Boston as he scored 11 points in the period and a three point play would pull the Celtics within 66-59 with 3:33 left. Seven is as close as they’d get. The Heat put it away over the first five minutes of the fourth as a 16-6 run that included a three-pointer by Martin, a Butler jumper and a steal and dunk by Butler, and a Robinson made it 92-71. The Celtics shot 16-77 (20-7%) from the three-point arc over the final two games of the series, falling short of history and also a return trip to the NBA Finals. The 19 point win is the largest for a road team in a game seven of a Conference Finals game since 1984. Miami also becomes just the second #8 seed to make it to the NBA Finals, joining the 1998-99 New York Knicks.
Jaylen Brown led Boston in the loss with 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal, and two blocked shots (1-9 three-pointers) Brown also had eight turnovers. White, the game six hero that forced this game seven, finished with 18 points. Tatum ended up with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists (5-13 from the field). The Celtics went 9-42 from the three-point arc in the loss, and finish their season as the #2 seed with a final record of 68-34. Butler had 28 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals for Miami. Martin would fill it up for 26 points (career playoff-high), 10 rebounds, and three assists shooting 11-16 from the floor (4-6 three-pointers). Adebayo (12 points), Gabe Vincent (10), and Robinson (10) also got into double figures. Adebayo also contributed 10 rebounds and seven assists. They would go 14-28 from the three-point line on the night. Butler won the Larry Bird Trophy for the Most Valuable Player of the series by one vote over his teammate Martin. This is the sixth NBA Finals for head coach Erik Spoelstra in 15 years at the helm in Miami. The Heat (56-44) will take on the Western Conference Champion Nuggets in Denver in game one of the Finals on Thursday night. It is the first ever appearance in franchise history in the Finals for Denver.
Story by Chris Lessner/Highlights courtesy of the NBA website
