At 8:30 a.m. Beijing time on May 24, the Eastern Finale G4 will start in Miami. The Heat led 3-0 on aggregate and were just one win away from advancing to the Finals. Butler will try to lead the team to sweep the Celtics and return to the Finals stage after three years. Previously, the Nuggets had swept the Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference Finals, and if the Heat also swept the cut, it would be the first time in the 16-team era of the playoffs that the East and West were swept 4-0.
Butler's shining performances and Adebayo's consistency led the No. 8 seed to successive miracles, but they were not alone, and the four undrafted Vincent, Martin, Strus and Duncan Robinson became the best helpers. In the G3 game in the East final, the four undrafted picks combined for 79 points to help the Heat get the game point.
Counting the Lakers, who have just gone out, all 150 teams that trailed 3-0 in NBA history have been eliminated, and none of them have completed a reversal. "We're not content with three wins," said Vincent, who scored a career-high 29 points in G3, shooting 11-of-14 from the field and 6-of-9 from three-point range.
"We can play our way," Heat coach Spoelstra said, "and we need Vincent's confidence after Hiro and Oladipo are out injured. You can't rely on Butler and Adebayo alone, you need more people to contribute. "The Heat G3 shot 56.8 percent from the field and 54.3 percent from three-point range.
"To their credit, their performance far exceeded their ability," Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said, "and they are on the momentum and I have to respect them." Vincent, Martin, Strus and Duncan Robinson, the players we should have limited all exploded. ”
On the other hand, the Green Army G3 remains in poor shape. The pair of Tatum and Brown shot just 12-of-35 from the field and 1-of-14 from three-point range. In fact, Brown never found a three-point touch in the Eastern Conference finals, and only 2-of-20 from the outside in the first three games of the series.
For the team as a whole, in the first three games, the Green Army shot just 29.2 percent from three-point range (31 of 106), while the Heat shot 47.8 percent from three-point range (44 of 92).
The most avid Boston fans will surely recall the scene in 2004. The Boston Red Sox series trailed 3-0 and eventually managed to reverse the New York Yankees, even if it was a baseball legend. "We're not out yet," Horford said, "it's 3-0. ”
The Heat's Love left the game injured in G3, and while he didn't return to the court, the 34-year-old veteran said he had no problem after the game. 'He said he could have come back in the second half, but we wanted to assess that we were leading by 15 points and I thought it was better to make sure what happened. Spoelstra said.
The Eastern Conference G4 may be the final game of the series. Butler reached the Finals in 2020 and lost 4-2 to the Lakers and missed the championship. This time, he didn't want to miss the chance to win the championship again.