Celtics Fend Off Elimination From Heat

Jayson Tatum scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Jaylen Brown added 17 points and the Boston Celtics would avoid elimination in the Eastern Conference Finals with a super charged second half to defeat the Miami Heat, 116-99, in Game 4 on Tuesday night at the Kaseya Center.

Tatum’s second three-pointer of the night was the 220th of his postseason career, that is when he surpassed Hall of Famer, Paul Pierce, for the most in Celtics playoff history.

“We were just trying to save our season,” Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said.

The Celtics were down by nine points early in the third quarter, down 3-0 in the series and they knew and understood their season was on the verge of ending, they would respond. They would ignite an 18-0 scoring run over the Heat in a span of just over four minutes.

“We don’t really have a choice. It’s do-or-die. Got to stick together,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.

They figured out just how to do that, Boston would find their shooting stroke from beyond-the-arc and produced a 30-point edge on three-pointers in comparison to Miami; the Heat shot 54% from deep in Game 3 but they couldn’t achieve the same sort of success when they shot 25% from three in Game 4.

“We can’t relax. We have to keep the same level of intensity, the same mindset, the same focus in the next game,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.

Derrick White scored 16 points, Grant Williams pitched in 14, Al Horford had 12 and Marcus Smart added 11 for the Celtics, and it was a total team effort for Boston; they will need more of that if they hope to become the first team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit in NBA Playoffs history. Not a single team has ever successfully pulled off the feat in a best-of-seven series; 150 have attempted it, 150 have come short. The series will now head back to Boston for Game 5 on Thursday.

Jimmy Butler scored 29 points for Miami, 15 of those points would come in the third quarter. However, the Heat were outscored 48-22 in a 14-minute stretch that completely changed the game.

“Tonight we played with pace, purpose, we were getting stops, we were getting out in transition. You see layups and free throws go in, the jump shots start to feel a lot easier,” Jayson Tatum said.

Gabe Vincent scored 17 points for Miami, Caleb Martin added 16 and Bam Adebayo had 10. Vincent left the game early in the fourth quarter after rolling his left ankle.

The Heat led by as many as nine points in the first quarter, they kept the lead for most of the first half and went into halftime with a six point advantage. They would build their lead back up to nine once again in the third quarter after Max Strus drained a three-pointer, but the Celtics would rally from there.

Boston knew their season could be coming to an end, they would go on to respond to adversity in the most dramatic of ways.

The 18-0 run Boston had for over four minutes in the third, it took them from down nine to up nine points. The Celtics would shoot 6-for-7 during that stretch, a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point line, and Boston would get 14 points from Tatum the entire quarter.

“We always say the last one to get is the hardest one to get, I knew they would be desperate,” Bam Adebayo said.

Miami would bring the game within two possessions late in the third quarter, but Boston would punch back again. The Celtics scored seven unanswered points in 40 seconds; they would enter the fourth quarter with an 88-79 lead over the Heat. From there, Boston would outscore Miami 38-23 and stave off elimination.

“They got us tonight; you have to give them credit for that. There’s no doubt about it. There’s no questioning it. We’re not wondering about that. They deserved to win tonight. We have to regroup and get ready for a great opportunity in Boston,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

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