South Beach scorcher
C’s breeze by Heat to even Eastern Finals at one apiece
MIAMI >> Based on the fact that Marcus Smart spent most of Game 1 standing courtside at the end of the Celtics bench despite a foot sprain, he wasn’t long for the pine.
Al Horford walked out of COVID protocol and into FTX Arena with a similar expression to the one on his face after absorbing Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Game 4 taunt in the last series.
Both players were about to change the texture of the Eastern Conference Finals.
After leading by as much as 29 points in the second quarter and 34 in the fourth, and withstanding another night of Jimmy Butler (29 points), the Celtics easily pulled away with a 127-102 win over Miami for a 1-1 tie in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Smart finished with a wild near-triple double line of 24 points, 8-for-21 shooting, five 3-pointers, nine rebounds, 12 assists and three steals while Jayson Tatum (27 points) was leading an attack that featured 50% (20-for-40) 3-point shooting.
The Celtics answered a 17-3 Miami run with a 12-2 burst of their own, good for a 96-71 lead at the end of the third.
Butler, with a 16-point third, had thrown a haymaker, only for the Celtics to recover. Tatum had 27 points, with three other Celtics scoring between 16 and 18 points. Overall the Celtics were shooting a wild 15-for-29 (51.7%) from downtown.
Brown, with two straight rim finishes, triggered a 7-0 run that Smart boosted with his fourth trey of the
night, and was good for a 30-point (103-73) lead.
The Celtics gouged Miami with three runs — a 17-0 burst in the first quarter, followed by 9-0 stretch and 21-8 in the third — on the way to a 70-45 halftime lead. The 21-8 burst was good for a peak 29-point lead.
Tatum had 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, Brown had 15, and Smart had a
wild line of seven points, 2-for-11 shooting (1-for-5 from three), five rebounds and seven assists. Overall the Celtics shot 58.5% overall and 12-for-19 (63.2%) from downtown despite Smart’s deep misses.
Smart followed up his wild first half with a pair of equally wild makes in the third, including a threepoint play after drawing a foul while hitting an overthe-backboard
rainbow from the baseline.
Butler had 11 points in the 17-5 Miami run that followed, and cut the Celtics lead to 17 (82-65). The Celtics pulled out of their swoon with a 12-2 run that included threes from Smart and Tatum, and staked them to a 96-71 quarterending lead.
Beyond three Jaylen Brown 3-pointers, the Celtics
had a 17-0 late-quarter run to thank for their 35-24 lead at the end of the third, with Grant Williams (two), Smart and Brown all hitting from deep during the burst.
Miami had jumped out to an 18-8 lead before the Celtics woke up from a slovenly defensive start that found Jayson Tatum (two fouls) and Rob Williams (poor play) both on the bench.
Tatum opened the second with a 3-pointer, and came back just under two minutes later with a drive off a Smart dish that triggered a 9-0 run for a 47-28 Celtics lead with 7:24 left in the half.
They boosted the lead to 24 on a Tatum threepoint play, 25 on a Tatum 3-pointer, and then 27 (6437) when the Celtics star came back with two free throws.
The Celtics would lead by as many as 29 points (6839) after outscoring Miami 21-8 over a 5:34 stretch.