Celtics on brink of historic comeback
The Boston Celtics were a tenth of a second away from elimination. The Miami Heat were a tenth of a second from the NBA Finals.
Derrick White owned that final moment.
White scored on a putback as time expired and the Boston Celtics moved to the brink of the greatest comeback in NBA playoffs history, holding off the Miami Heat 104-103 on Saturday night to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.
“Derrick White, like a flash of lightning, just came out of nowhere and saved the day, man,” Boston’s Jaylen Brown said. “An incredible play.”
White knew it was good. Referees reviewed it, but it didn’t take long to give the official word.
Elation for Boston. Devastation for Miami.
“Ball came to me,” White said. “I made the shot.”
Perhaps Boston will call it The Shot.
White became the second player in NBA history to hit a buzzer-beater with his team trailing and facing elimination — Michael Jordan’s “The Shot” for Chicago against Cleveland in 1989 being the other.
“I was just happy,” White said. “Season was on the line. We don’t want to go home.”
Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, Brown scored 26 and Marcus Smart added 21 for the Celtics, who became only the fourth NBA team to erase a 3-0 deficit in a best-ofseven series and force a deciding game. The others in that club — the 1951 New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, the 1994 Denver Nuggets in the second round and the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers in the first round — all lost Game 7, all on the road.
Boston, however, is going home for its shot at history. Game 7 is Monday night on the Celtics’ floor, a matchup that’ll decide who meets the Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets in a title series that will start Thursday.
“It’s a seven-game series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
“There’s nothing better than Game 7s.”
The Celtics have now won five of their last six East finals games in Miami — a stretch that includes a Game 7 over the Heat last season to reach the NBA Finals.
That one, obviously, ended the Heat season. At least this time, Miami still has a chance.