Boston demolishes Miami to even series at 2-2 in Eastern Conference Finals

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Boston Celtics bounced back huge and played with the much-needed sense of urgency after putting the fire out of the Miami Heat, 102-82, to deadlock the Eastern Conference finals series at 2-2.

As promised by the green and white, the blazing Boston offense quickly pounced on Miami as they built a double digit lead early in the first quarter.

Derrick White, who started the game in place of an injured Marcus Smart, provided the first seven points for the Celtics and set the defensive tone in the first four minutes of the ball game.

It was a completely different scenario from Game 3 as the Heat’s offense was shut down by Boston and only scored a point for eight straight minutes, the fewest points put up by a team in the post-season during the last 25 years.

Miami struggled mightily on offense as they only had one field goal in the first 8:38 minutes and only converted three shots after the first quarter.

It was Victor Oladipo who provided the offense for the Heat and sank their first basket after making a three-pointer but wasn’t enough to spark any Miami comeback.

Boston imposed their will in the paint and totally dominated Miami after scoring 38 total points in the shaded area and recorded 11 successful blocks: four from Al Horford, two apiece from Robert Williams and Jayson Tatum, and one apiece from White, Payton Pritchard, and Aaron Nesmith.

Tatum finally shot the lights out and regained his offensive rhythm after struggling from the field during the first three games and finished with 31 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.

Miami never cut the Boston lead to single digits since getting hold of their 20-point lead and continued to massacre the Heat until head coach Erik Spoelstra waved the white flag early in the fourth and pulled out his starters.

Despite Jimmy Butler’s presence who didn’t play the entire second half during their hard-earned Game 3 win, Miami still couldn’t have a consistent offensive run in all the quarters and surprisingly dropped their free throw attempts to just 14 compared to Boston’s 38.

Kyle Lowry, PJ Tucker, and Max Struss, the three key Miami players during their Game 3 win, failed to show up in the game and combined for a horrible 1/17 from the field.

Bam Adebayo was also shut down by the Boston defense which only limited him to nine points, six rebounds, and two assists.

Miami missed the scoring prowess of Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro who didn’t play due to a left groin strain he suffered last game.

With the series now tied at 2-2, the Celtics will head back to Miami for Game 5 and will look to win two games in a row to get the advantage in their series.