adminThe Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 3 at home, 128-102, to move one victory closer to the NBA Finals after taking the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals on the road in Boston.
The Heat were defeated by the Celtics in seven games last season in a back-and-forth series. Miami now has the opportunity to get payback.
And Florida will host Game 4.
In their second-round series against the New York Knicks, the Heat won all three of their home games because they enjoy playing at home, and they carried that energy into Sunday night.
The Heat got the game going quickly, dominating the first quarter 30-22, and taking a commanding 61-48 advantage into halftime.
The Heat have demonstrated that they are a second-half squad that can punish opponents with explosive third-quarter performance. That was the situation once more, and the Celtics had no response.
The key to Miami’s victory was something that has been clear throughout these playoffs: The Heat had scorers all over the floor. Miami outscored Boston 32-17 in the third quarter.
Six different Heat players, including Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson off the bench, scored in the double figures in this game, contrary to the usual focus on Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. In fact, they each had 11 and 10 points to help establish the tone in the first round. They both had 18 and 22 points after everything was said and done.
The team’s top scorer, Gabe Vincent, finished with 29 points on 11 of 14 field goal attempts, including six successful three-pointers. He recorded a block, a steal, two rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
In addition to Adebayo and Butler, the victory was resounding.
Butler finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals.
Adebayo did not need to get many rebounds because Miami’s team field goal percentage was 56.8%. He had 13 points, three rebounds, and two assists in total.
When the Celtics’ reserves hit the court in the fourth quarter, they conceded defeat while their starting lineup mulled over how they had allowed the series to fall apart so quickly.
Jayson Tatum, who had a difficult night from the floor, was one of them.
Tatum only scored 14 points on Sunday night after tallying 30 in Game 1 and 34 in Game 2.
He made 6-of-18 shots, including 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. He had two assists, two steals, and 10 rebounds.
Similar to his All-Star counterpart, Jaylen Brown scored just 12 points on 6-of-17 shooting, missing all seven of his three-point tries.
Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Derrick White—the remaining starting five—had single digits in the scoring column, making it impossible for anybody else to step up offensively.
The absence of veteran player Kevin Love following a suspected injury sustained throughout the game was the lone drawback for Miami.
Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET, Game 4 of the series will kick off in Miami, and Boston must win to retain their Eastern Conference title.