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History was on the side of the Miami Heat. After 150 attempts, no team in the history of the NBA had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
On Monday night, Miami turned that streak to 151-0, as they defeated the Boston Celtics 103-84 to advance to the NBA Finals. There, they will meet the Denver Nuggets. The Heat became the second ever eight-seed in the East to reach the title series.
Prior to this season, only three teams had ever come back from 3-0 down to force a Game 7 – with the last one coming in the 2003 Western Conference first round. Already, that meant both teams made history. Miami made sure that history was in their favor.
The 2023 Celtics now join the 1951 New York Knicks, the 1994 Denver Nuggets, and the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers as teams who came back from that deficit to force a Game 7, but lose it.
Off an amazing 28 point performance from Jimmy Butler and a 26 point night from Caleb Martin, Miami was able to silence the home crowd at TD Garden – which may now be well and truly cursed considering the Celtics have lost the last three consecutive series-clinching games in the NBA Finals and Conference Finals it has hosted.
Jimmy Butler’s 28 points led the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals, beating Boston 103-84
Butler won the Larry Bird MVP Award as the best player in the Eastern Conference finals
Caleb Martin dropped 26 points and ten rebounds on an 11-16 shooting line
It’s a disappointing end for Boston – a team that is still seeking its first title since 2008
Boston shot themselves out of the game, going 32-82 from the floor and an appalling 9-42 from 3-point range.
The Celtics began the night in fear as star Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle on the very first play of the game after landing on the foot of Miami’s Gabe Vincent.
Tatum labored on before eventually sitting for the rest of the first quarter.
In that time, the Celtics put up an awful stat line to start the game – going 0-for-9 from behind the 3-point line. It wouldn’t be until the 9:53 mark of the second quarter before Boston hit a shot from deep.
Miami had truly dominated in the second half of the first quarter – finishing that period out with a 22-15 advantage.
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It only got bigger for Miami – who extended their lead in the second quarter to as much as 17 before Boston finally started to get their feet back under them.
With the second quarter winding down, the C’s started to trim their deficit – bringing the game back to within eight points at the 1:49 mark with the score 47-39.
But the Celtics could not stop Miami from putting up points – with the Heat up 11 by a score of 52-41 at the close of the first half.
Bam Adebayo (13) was one of two Miami players to drop a double-double with 12 pts & 10 rebs
Coming out of halftime, a controversial travel call against Jayson Tatum fired up the Celtics. That sparked them to a crucial 8-0 run that cut Miami’s advantage to 59-51 with 8:29 to go.
The Heat responded with four more points, but the Celtics quickly answered. Back and forth they went until a Derrick White bucket to make it 66-58 led to a timeout from Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.
For a period in that third quarter, the teams each continued to miss shots – five in a row combined. It was Miami that broke the deadlock.
By the quarter’s end, Boston was down by ten points – scoring, but at an inconsistent rate and unable to stop Miami from adding up small, yet painful buckets like cat scratches.
Derrick White put some inspiration and belief into the Garden crowd with a great 3rd quarter
But Butler and the Heat came out with a blistering fourth quarter to put the game away
With the Garden rocking, Boston should have come out for the fourth quarter ready to take on the Heat and finally overcome that 3-0 curse.
Boston must not have gotten that memo, calling timeout at the 10:50 mark after turning the ball over twice and giving up seven points to go down 83-66.
The Celtics, staring down a massive deficit due to their inaccurate 3-point shooting, decided that they had to continue chucking up 3-pointers. They kept missing. Miami’s lead grew to 21 when Boston called timeout with 6:08 to go.
By that point it was over. The Celtics kept missing shots, both teams brought out their bench players, and the Boston faithful walked out into the night, with the air as tepid as their basketball team.
