An angry Jimmy Butler led Miami to a solid lead in the series with Boston
The Miami Heat took a 2-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Despite entering the playoffs as the #8 seed in the regular season, the Heat are now just two wins away from reaching the Finals after beating the Celtics 111-105 (24-25, 30-25, 21 :33, 36:22) through a reversal in the last six minutes of the match at "TD Garden".
Thus, the series moves to Florida for the next two games, with the Heat's first home game taking place on Monday morning at 3:30 a.m. Bulgarian time.
Miami was trailing 87-96 with about six minutes left on the clock when a verbal altercation broke out between Heat star Jimmy Butler and Celtics wing Grant Williams. Williams allowed himself to anger the leader of the "hot guys" after provoking him several times when his team was leading in the result. Naturally, this trick didn't work and after the confrontation between the two, Jimmy set out on a mission to help his team get back into the game and even turn the tide of the match.
With two consecutive mid-range shots through Williams, the Heat leader led his team ahead by two points at 102:100, and then with a key three-pointer by Gabe Vincent, the distance was increased to four at 107:103. The "Celts" were unable to come up with an opportunity to tie or turn the game around, and in the end, Miami won with a final score of 111:105.
For the second straight game since the start of the series, Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum failed to score a field goal in the final quarter, and he already has seven straight misses in matchups #1 and #2. The winger also picked up five offensive fouls in the final period this morning, which speaks volumes for the Heat's defense against him in key moments.
Otherwise, Butler finished as the top scorer for Miami with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Caleb Martin was invaluable off the bench with 25 points on 11/16 shooting, and Bam Adebayo came close to a triple-double with 22 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists. Duncan Robinson added 15 points, while Max Stress scored 11.
For Boston, Tatum finished with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists. Jaylen Brown had 16 points, but on 7/23 shooting from the field, Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon each had 13 points and Derrick White added 11.
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