Miami Heat crushed as a visitor this Sunday to Boston Celtics with a resounding 128-102 and was left one win away from reaching the NBA Finals, after leading 3-0 in the decisive key of the Eastern Conference. Gabe Vincent was the great figure of the winning team, completing his form with unprecedented numbers for his career.
The Heat, who reached these Playoffs as the eighth in the East and having to play the ‘play-in’, capitalized to the maximum a disappointing performance by the Celticswho suffer in this series the little interference of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and are already savoring not only access to the Finals, but also the taste of revenge after the elimination at the hands of their current rival in the Eastern final of 2022 .
Like the Los Angeles Lakers in the West (they also lose 3-0 to the Denver Nuggets), Boston now depends on a historic comeback to advance, because no team in the NBA has managed to come back from 0-3 down in 149 games. .
In its unappealable and huge victory in the third gameMiami, which was already winning by 33 points in the third quarter, did not even need an extraordinary version of Jimmy Butler, who contributed 16 points (5 of 13 on shots), 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
It was, instead, a triumph of a seamless and wonderfully blended block (impressive 19 of 35 on three-pointers) with five other players with more than 10 points and with a very prominent name: a sensational Gabe Vincent with 29 points (his scoring record) and a fantastic 11 of 14 shooting, with 6 of 9 in triples (it was also the best mark of his career).
The only bad news for the locals was the Kevin Love’s injurywho left the game in the first quarter due to a sore left ankle and never returned to the field.
For his part, in a hopeless Celtics (11 of 42 on three-pointers), without pride or ability to react and who reserved their stars in the last quarter, Tatum collapsed with 14 points (6 of 18 on shots, 1 of 7 on 3-pointers) and Brown also failed with 12 points (6-of-17 on attempts, 0-of-7 on 3-pointers).
A Heat display
As has been the case in the development of the Playoffs, Miami showed an important balance between all its pieces in the first quarter. Proof of this is that seven of the eight players who stepped onto the pitch in that initial period scored at least one point and all joined forces for a powerful 11 of 19 accuracy from the field.
Caleb Martin, with 8 points without a miss, led that choral attack by Miami against some tremendously clumsy Celtics who accumulated 6 turnovers before reaching the second quarter (30-22).
Very frustrated with the referees and with many problems in defense -even when Butler was on the bench-, those of Joe Mazzulla gave very worrying sensations before some Heat that smelled blood.
Thus, a spectacular “alley-oop” by Duncan Robinson for Bam Adebayo was the cherry on top of an overwhelming local offensive that led them to place 22 points ahead of a paralyzed Celticss and that they were about to crash without having reached the break (59-37 with 3.59 on the clock).
Nevertheless, Boston He clung to the match with a 2-9 lead to finish the fourth, he obviously strengthened his defense in that section and cmissed the first part with a lot of homework ahead but still with life (61-46).
The Heat hit 57.5% of their shots in the first half and three of their undrafted players (Martin, Robinson and Vincent) had double-digit scoring before heading to the locker room. Meanwhile, in Boston’s muddy attack (5 of 16 on 3-pointers), Brown and Tatum only added 19 points between them.
The visitors had found some green shoots at the end of the second quarter, but in the third they were completely wrecked. A devastating run of 22-10 in just over five minutes capped off the overwhelming performance in the second half of about Heat that bordered on perfection until reaching an impressive +27 (86-53).
Everything shone in Erik Spoelstra’s men: his defense stifled Boston, his energy and confidence shone on both sides of the court, Vincent put his boots on from 3-point range, and a wildly aggressive Adebayo kept pounding the Celtics’ rim.
On the other hand, those in green collapsed, absolutely powerless and who did not even pull caste to try to contain a ridiculous capital.
Miami was on the rise in that majestic quarter (32-17) and, with an unapproachable 93-63 before the last period, the Celtics definitely threw in the towel.
Miami, on the verge of a historic achievement
These fascinating and highly deserving Heat are about to become the second team in NBA history to reach the Finals as eighth in their conference.
The 1999 New York Knicks were the only one that had achieved it so far, but in the series for the ring they lost against the San Antonio Spurs (4-1).
After sweeping Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, the best team in the league in the regular season, and the New York Knicks along the way, Miami will try to get into its seventh NBA final this Tuesday from 9:30 p.m. in Argentina, with the objective of obtaining his fourth title in the most important basketball league in the world.
With information from EFE.
ES
2023-05-22 04:03:52
#Miami #demolished #Boston #record #performance #Gabe #Vincent #set #foot #NBA #Finals
