Defense spurs Celtics past Heat
Boston one victory from NBA Finals
MIAMI — The Boston Celtics know the formula. They believe their defense, as has been the case time and again in these playoffs, will eventually wear down teams. Hard to argue. Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, Jayson Tatum added 22 and the Celtics are now one win from the NBA Finals. They ran away after halftime to beat the Miami Heat 93-80 on Wednesday night and take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference title series.
“I think the mental stress and strain we put on some teams with our defense has worked and carried us through the playoffs at times,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said.
Al Horford had 16 points and Derrick White added 14 for the Celtics. Tatum finished with 12 rebounds and nine assists.
Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Heat, which shot 32% in the game — after shooting 33% in Boston’s 20-point win in Game 4. Gabe Vincent added 15, Jimmy Butler had 13 and Duncan Robinson scored 11 for Miami.
The Heat was 7 for 45 from 3-point range. It played without the injured Tyler Herro (groin), and several Miami players were questionable entering the day for a variety of ailments.
“We are not going to make any kind of deflection or any kind of excuse,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Boston beat us tonight. And let’s be clear about that. There’s guys that are far from 100% on both sides.”
Game 6 is in Boston on Friday night, where a pair of trophies bearing the names of Celtics legends will be waiting. The Bob Cousy trophy goes to the East champs, the Larry Bird trophy to the East finals MVP, and the Celtics are one win from hoisting them.
“We’ve got an opportunity to do something with this group that’s special,” Brown said. “Let’s not take that for granted.”
This series has seen massive momentum swings — a 44-14 Miami run in Game 1, a 60-21 Boston run in Game 2, a 46-20 Miami run to open Game 3 followed by a 57-33 Boston run in the same game, and a 26-4 spurt by the Celtics to open Game 4.
The Game 5 run was just as big.
The score over a 6 1/2-minute stretch of the second half: Celtics 24, Heat 2. The turnaround was 59-58 Boston to 83-60 Boston.
“In the first half it was tough because we weren’t hitting shots and we were turning the ball over,” Horford said. “But the key
for us was continuing to do what we do defending.”
BOSTON (93)
Horford 5-8 5-7 16, Tatum 7-20 6-8 22, Williams III 2-2 2-2 6, Brown 10-19 0-1 25, Smart 1-5 2-2 5, Fitts 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Nesmith 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 2-5 0-0 5, Kornet 0-0 0-0 0, Pritchard 0-2 0-0 0, Stauskas 0-2 0-0 0, White 6-8 2-3 14. Totals 33-71 17-23 93.
MIAMI (80)
Butler 4-18 4-4 13, Tucker 3-7 0-0 7, Adebayo 8-15 2-2 18, Lowry 0-6 0-0 0, Strus 0-9 4-4 4, Highsmith 0-0 0-0 0, Martin 3-7 0-0 7, Robinson 4-12 0-0 11, Yurtseven 1-1 0-0 2, Oladipo 1-7 1-2 3, Vincent 6-12 2-2 15. Totals 30-94 13-14 80. Boston 17 20 32 24 — 93 Miami 19 23 16 22 — 80 3-Point Goals—Boston 10-33 (Brown 5-9, Tatum 2-8, Horford 1-3, Smart 1-3, Williams 1-4, Pritchard 0-2, Stauskas 0-2, White 0-2), Miami 7-45 (Robinson 3-10, Martin 1-3, Butler 1-5, Tucker 1-5, Vincent 1-7, Oladipo 0-3, Lowry 0-5, Strus 0-7). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Boston 46 (Tatum 12), Miami 49 (Tucker 11). Assists—Boston 24 (Tatum 9), Miami 14 (Butler 4). Total Fouls—Boston 19, Miami 19.
A—19,819 (19,600)
MAVERICKS-WARRIORS: Golden State find itself in familiar territory after failing to close out a series on the road and hopes for familiar results Thursday night in San Francisco.
For the third straight series, the Warriors lost their first chance to advance while playing on the road. But they can make it to their sixth NBA Finals in the past eight years by finishing off the Dallas Mavericks at home in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
The Warriors rebounded after those slipups in the first two rounds vs. Denver and Memphis and are hoping for a repeat after losing 119-109 at Dallas on Tuesday when the Mavs got off to a fast start.
“It’s a good lesson learned,” guard Stephen Curry said. “You tip your hat to them because they made a lot of shots. We had a couple breakdowns in our zone that gave them easy looks, and they made us pay.”