The Celtics faced off against the Heat G3, and the league leader took the opponent lightly, leading 2-1 in total. In the whole game, Tatum had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, Brown had 22 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, Porzingis had 18 points and White had 16 points. For the Heat, Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 9 rebounds, and Herro had 15 points. It is worth mentioning that Tatum looked calm when he clocked in advance.
In the last home game against the Heat, the league's No. 1 suffered a humiliating defeat. In the third game between the two sides, the Celtics were almost suffocated by the Heat.
After five minutes in the first quarter, the Heat only relied on Bam Adebayo to score 3 points with free throws. In the entire first quarter, the Heat scored 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting, 1-of-9 three-pointers, 1-of-3 free throws, and five turnovers. The team's offensive arrow, Herro, shot 0-of-5 and had two turnovers. At the end of the first quarter, the Heat trailed 12-21.
In the second quarter, the Celtics' offense also opened, and the whole team blossomed more and completely beat the opponent. Throughout the second quarter, the Celtics went on a 42-27 run to lead the Heat by 24 points at halftime, 63-39. In the first half, the Celtics scored four double-doubles, Tatum 15 points, Porzingis 12 points, White 12 points, and Jaylen Brown 10 points.
The first battle of the alliance to save face has to be said to be too brutal. Coming back in the second half, the Celtics further widened the point difference, and in the face of a big hole, the Heat was unable to fill it. At the end of the third quarter, the Celtics were 87-61 and still led by as many as 26 points.
In the fourth quarter of the game, Tatum also ushered in a milestone, scoring more than 2,300 points in his career playoffs, ranking third in history on the playoff scoring list before the age of 27, behind Kobe Bryant (2,694 points) and James (2,578 points). After that, the game also went into garbage time early.