The series between the Heat and the Celtics was held at home to the Celtics, but the Celtics, who had home-court advantage, gave the Heat a 7-point lead at 22:14 in the first quarter, and opened a four-point gap in the second quarter at 30:26, and the Heat had led the Celtics by as many as 11 points in the first half.
In the third quarter, Derrick White scored 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting in the quarter to help the team chase points, but the Heat's Caleb Martin scored 9 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the quarter to help the Heat stabilize the point gap, and in the fourth quarter, the Heat once again flowed the Celtics, and finally the Heat defeated the Celtics 19 points 103-84, and defeated the Celtics 4:3 in the Eastern Conference Finals to advance to the Finals.
For the Heat, Jimmy Butler contributed 28 points, 7 boards and 6 assists on 3-of-7 three-point shooting, and Caleb Martin contributed 26 points and 10 boards on 11-of-16 shooting and 4-of-6 three-pointers; Bam Adebayo contributed 12 points, 10 boards, 7 assists and 4 turnovers on 4-of-10 shooting; Gabe Vincent contributed 10 points and 4 assists on 4-of-10 shooting and 2-of-3 three-pointers; Duncan Robinson scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 2-of-3 three-pointers.
The Heat's three-point shooting finally broke out in this game, shooting 14 of 28 and shooting 50% from three-point range, living up to expectations to win the game. According to FAA records, the Heat had arranged a ticket from Boston to Denver before the start of the game. It was the Heat's attitude of not breaking the cauldron that finally allowed all the players to withstand the pressure, win the game, and avoid becoming a background board for shame.
And the most surprising performance of the Heat is naturally Heat forward Caleb Martin, shooting 60/49/88% from the field in the entire series, averaging 19.3 points and 6.4 boards per game, becoming the key player for the Heat to win the series, and the Eastern Conference Finals MVP vote was 4:5 to almost surpass Butler to become the Eastern Conference MVP, fortunately, Butler did not drop the chain in this game, otherwise the Eastern Conference MVP changed hands. Throughout the Eastern Conference Finals, Butler averaged 23.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists. It can only be considered decent, compared to Caleb Martin's play is indeed slightly inadequate.
However, since the park, the Heat have not won against the Nuggets, and the Nuggets are in such good shape in the playoffs this year, and the Finals are estimated to be unable to beat the Nuggets, and the Finals are already the limit of the Heat. At the same time, the Heat also made history, becoming the first team in NBA history to experience the playoffs and finally reach the Finals.
It is worth mentioning that in the 2005-06 season, the 25-year-old Haslem made his first appearance with the Heat and won the championship. In the 2022-23 season, the 42-year-old Haslem reached the Finals with the Heat for the seventh time in his career. After 17 years, it is really a mascot of the heat.
For the Celtics, Jaylen Brown contributed 19 points, 8 boards, 5 assists and 8 turnovers on 8-of-23 shooting and 1-of-9 three-pointers; Derek White scored 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting, 2-of-9 three-pointers and 6-of-7 free throws; Jason Tatum shot 5-of-13, 1-of-4 from three-point range and 3-of-4 from the free throw line to contribute 14 points, 11 boards and 4 assists.
In the final two games, he shot 16 of 77 from three-point range and shot 21 percent from the field. Only 9 of 42 three-pointers were shot in this game, and in the face of the Heat's fiery three-point feeling, it could only usher in a crushing defeat. Horford averaged 12 points + 52% + 48% per game last year, and 6 points + 38% + 29% this year, which is really a comprehensive shrinkage, is too old, it is estimated that he can only play substitutes after that.
If Tatum was seriously dysfunctional due to a leg injury in the first quarter of the game, then Jaylen Brown is truly unforgivable, with 8 turnovers in the game, the second most of seven in history, second only to Mitchell in 2020 with 9. The number of turnovers is equal to his own hits, and such a crotch-pulling performance in the Big Seven game basically means that this is his last game with the Celtics, and Jaylen Brown's heart is no longer with the Celtics, but already in the free agent market. Browndon averaged 19 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.5 turnovers per game, shooting 42%+16.3% from the field. Even the performance is not as good as Caleb Martin on the opposite side, it really shouldn't be.