MIAMI—The boston celtics are about to achieve something never seen before in the nbaa feat that is extremely rare in the history of major American professional sports.
behind an impressive white derrick setback just before the buzzer, the Boston Celtics won Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals 104-103, over the Miami Heat.
The Celtics have come back to tie this series at 3-3 after losing the first three games and can become the first team in NBA history to win a playoff series after losing 3-0.
One hundred and fifty have tried and failed.
“Faith, love, togetherness, physicality, trust, hope, all of those things combined,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said when asked how the Celtics got this far. “But it starts with the wardrobe. Those guys had a choice to make and they chose to believe in each other.”
Only five teams combined in the NHL and MLBeven in 2004, when the Red Sox defeated the Yankees to reach the World Series, they won a Game 7 after being down three in one series.
Historically, Miami is not the main rival of the Celtics (hello, lakers), but the Heat and Boston have met three times in the past four seasons in the conference finals. And for the second year in a row, a Celtics-Heat conference final is heading to a Game 7.
“That’s the way it’s been this season,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team is still trying to become the second team to reach a final as the No. 8 seed. “This is a great series. Right now, I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but we’re going up there and we’re going to do it. And that’s what the next 48 hours are about.”
No matter what happens in Game 7, which is at 8:30 p.m. Monday night at TD Garden, no one on either side will soon forget this series.
jimmy butler he made three free kicks with three seconds remaining to give the Heat a 103-102 lead. smart marcus missed a 3-pointer after timeout, but White, who was on the inside of the play, slid down the left side of the court as Smart’s shot was airborne, bounced after it hit the rim and returned it with 0.1 seconds remaining: a play that withstood video review by officials.
“It all happened so fast, I really couldn’t tell.” jaylen brown saying. “I know Smart filmed him and I thought he was good. Then Derrick White, like a bolt of lightning, came out of nowhere and saved the day, man. It was just an incredible piece of work.”
“There’s no use standing in the corner there whether I make it or not, so he was just breaking the glass and he came right at me,” White said. “He’s going to be a little crazy. My phone is already exploding.”
jayson tatum he led the Celtics with 31 points and 12 rebounds, including 25 points in the first half. Brown added 26 points and 10 boards, and Smart was brilliant for the second straight game with 21 points.
White, who was included in the starting lineup for Game 4, scored 11. The Celtics haven’t lost since White joined the other starters.
Boston was playing without the current NBA sixth man of the year malcolm brogdonwho missed the game with a right forearm strain.
Butler suffered one of the worst shooting games he’s ever had, in the regular season or playoffs, missing 16 of the 21 shots he took. But he scored 13 of his team-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, including the Heat’s final 10 points in the final 2:04 of the game. Miami was down 10 with 3:51 to go.
Al-Horford fouled Butler in the corner with 3.0 on the clock, and when Butler calmly sank all three free kicks, it looked like he’d found the sweetest redemption, as he was the one who missed the open 3-pointer near the end of Game 7 in Eastern finals last year against the Celtics who could have won that game.
Instead, it was the bitterest of defeats.
“Basketball at its finest,” Butler said. “We are going to receive the same test until we pass it.”
caleb martin he continued his historic conference finals with 21 points and 15 boards. Making his first start of the series: Spoelstra traded Martin for kevin love — Martin entered the game averaging 17.6 points off the bench in this series for the fifth-highest average by a reserve in conference finals history.
Bam Adebayo he continued to struggle on offense, shooting 4-for-16 for 11 points. The Heat were an astonishing 33 of 93 shooting as a team, in a home game. However, the Celtics couldn’t keep the game, in part due to their 7-of-35 shooting from 3-point range. Tatum and Brown were 0-for-12 from deep.
Boston joins the 2003 Portland Trail Blazersthe 1994 denver nuggets and the 1951 The New York Knicks as the only teams in the NBA to lose 3-0 and even force a Game 7. Obviously all of those teams lost, but they all played Game 7 on the road.
The Celtics, now 5-0 in elimination games this postseason, have played more Game 7s (by far) than any other franchise, and in the Tatum-Brown era, they’re 5-1 in Game 7s since. 2018.
And they will be home. With the opportunity to write a piece of American history.
“There’s nothing worse than being down 0-3,” Brown said. “We feel like we’ve been to hell and back. We feel like we can take on any adversity that comes our way game length or season length or postseason. Everything means nothing if we don’t go out and do our best in our house on Monday night.”
A crazy ending to Game 6
What a stressful, urgent and desperate game. The Celtics led by double digits in each half. The Heat worked their way back each time, even while shooting 35.5 percent from the field for the game. The action felt like Game 7, with both teams knowing the entire season could be on the line.
For the Celtics, their season was. And they chose the most interesting way to extend it. They lost an entire double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter.
After Mazzulla’s replay review gave Butler a chance to put Miami ahead, not just tie the game, White returned that miss from Smart at the buzzer to force a Game 7.
That ending couldn’t have been crazier. — King
White saves the Celtics
The Celtics completely missed a supreme win to save their season, then somehow White saved them. White always finds a way to be in the right place at the right time while making the game faster than anyone else.
Most of the time there is suspense when there is a retracement right before the buzzer, but you knew right away that White would make it in time. He just sneaks into every crack of the game to make timely plays and literally brought the Celtics season back from the dead. — Weiss
The Heat’s incredible comeback isn’t enough
Miami absolutely could be moving towards the NBA Finals by now. We’ll see if the way they played over the last three minutes shakes them up heading into Game 7.
However, until that time, Butler and Adebayo were quite poor. They shot a combined 9-for-37 from the field. Butler came up hesitantly with a low shot, and Adebayo was catching the ball so far from the rim that he couldn’t get past Al Horford.
Shooting 33 of 93 from the field, at home, in an elimination game, is amazing. But it happened, and now the Heat will have to stop this avalanche that comes from above, on the road. — Vardon
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(Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
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