Hot start sparks Celtics past Heat
Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and the Boston Celtics took their turn pounding the Miami Heat early, jumping out to a 26-4 lead and cruising to a 102- 82 victory Monday night at TD Garden in Boston that evened the Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece.
Miami missed 15 of its first 16 shots in the second consecutive game that was all but over after 12 minutes. The Heat led 39-18 after the first quarter of Game 3 of this bizarre series in which no game has been close down the stretch.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Miami.
Payton Pritchard had 14 points for the Celtics. Derrick White added 13 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and Robert Williams finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Celtics led by 27 points in the second quarter and stretched their advantage to 32 in the third. Each game in this series has featured a lead of at least 20 points.
Victor Oladipo led the Heat with 23 points. Miami’s starting five of All-Star Jimmy Butler (six points), Kyle Lowry (three points), P.J. Tucker (no points), Max Strus (no points) and Bam Adebayo ( nine points) were a combined 7 of 36 shooting. They all sat out the fourth quarter.
Notes
Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors have
won nine consecutive games in the Western Conference Finals. They can make it an even 10, eliminate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks and return to the NBA Finals after three years away with a victory in Game 4 Tuesday night in Dallas.
• Denver Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has agreed to a five-year deal worth over $40 million that includes ownership equity to oversee the Minnesota Timberwolves’ basketball operations, sources told ESPN. The deal makes Connelly one of the league’s highest- compensated executives and transforms a Timberwolves franchise that has struggled to find stability in its leadership structure.