Like the Lakers, the Celtics can only hope for an unprecedented miracle
Miami’s triumph was the result of a well-mixed and well-rehearsed side
The Miami Heat humiliated the Boston Celtics this Sunday (128-102) and they are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals (3-0), despite making that playoff eighth in the East and having to play the play-in.
These intriguing and well-deserved Heat are about to become one second team in NBA history to reach the finals in eighth place in its conference.
The 1999 New York Knicks were the only ones to do sobut in the series around the ring they lost to the San Antonio Spurs (4-1).
After Sweep the Milwaukee Bucks down the street Giannis Antetokounmpo, As the league’s top team in the regular season and the New York Knicks, the Heat melted down the very disappointing Celtics with low morale and the absence of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Like the Los Angeles Lakers against the Denver Nuggets in the Western finals, The Celtics can now only aim for an unprecedented miracle as no team in the NBA has managed to come back from a 0-3 draw (149-0 on record for the teams that dominated the duel with that result).
Incidentally, despite the injuries to Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, the Heat are one win away from a sweet rematch The Celtics eliminated them in the 2022 Eastern Finals after seven games.
In their last and big win in Game 3, it wasn’t even necessary for Miami, who were already 33 points ahead in the third quarter an extraordinary version of Jimmy Butler, who contributed 16 points (5 of 13 shots), 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
It was instead a triumph of a seamless and beautifully blended block (an impressive 19/35 on three-shots) with five other players with 10+ points and a very prominent name: a sensational Gabe Vincent with 29 points (his goal record) and a fantastic 11/14 shots with 6/9 tripled.
The only bad news for the locals was Kevin Love’s injurywho left the game in the first quarter due to a sore left ankle and never returned to the field.
In some displaced Celtics (11 of 42 in threes), lacking pride or responsiveness and reserving their stars in the last quarter, tatum collapsed with 14 points (6 of 18 shots, 1 of 7 3-pointers) and Brown also missed with 12 points (6 of 17 shots, 0 of 7 3-pointers).
Miami exhibition
With permission of the nuggets, The Heat have proven to be the most even and balanced team of the playoffs and their first quarter tonight was a great example of that.
Seven of the eight players who took the field in that early period took at least a point and teamed up a strong accuracy of 11 out of 19 on field goals.
Caleb Martin led the Miami chorus attack with 8 points without a miss against some extremely clumsy Celtics who made six turnovers before reaching the second quarter (30-22).
Very frustrated with the referees and with many problems in defense – even with Butler on the bench – Joe Mazzulla’s caused some very worrying feelings from a heat that smelled blood.
So, A spectacular “Alley-Oop” by Duncan Robinson for Bam Adebayo was the icing on the cake an overwhelming local offense that saw them stand at +22 against the paralyzed Celtics, who were about to crash without having reached the break (59-37 with 3.59 on the clock).
Nevertheless, Boston held the game 2-9, finishing game four. They obviously beefed up their defense at this stage and finished the first half with a lot of homework but were still alive (61-46).
The Heat made 57.5% of their shots in the first half Three of their undrafted players (Martin, Robinson, and Vincent) recorded double digits He scores before going to the dressing room.
In the muddy Boston Attack (5 out of 16 on 3-point shots) Brown and Tatum had just 19 points combined.
The guests had found a few more green shoots by the end of the second quarter, but by the third they were completely shipwrecked.
A devastating 22-10 run in just over five minutes crowned the stunning presentation in the second half of a heat that bordered on perfection, posting an impressive +27 (86-53).
Everything about Erik Spoelstra’s men shone: his defense oppressed Boston, his energy and confidence radiated on both sides of the field. Vincent pulled his boots off the triple and a tremendously aggressive Adebayo didn’t stop dunking the Celtics’ basket.
Instead of this, The Greens collapsed like a house of cards before a hurricaneabsolutely powerless and who didn’t even pull the caste to try to stem a ridiculous capital.
The Heat (32-17) climbed to +33 in this majestic space and, with an unapproachable 93-63 before the last thirdthe Celtics have definitely thrown in the towel.
