BOSTON – The Boston Celtics are heading to the NBA Finals. The Celtics are moving on after beating the Heat, 100-96, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals Sunday night in Miami.
The Celtics will now face the Golden State Warriors for an NBA title. Game 1 is set for Thursday night in San Francisco.
Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with 26 points while Jaylen Brown had 24. Marcus Smart also had 24, and though he missed a ton of shots at the end of the game, he hit two free throws with 11.4 seconds left to seal the win for the Celtics.
Jimmy Butler led all scorers with 35 points in Game 7.
The Boston defense was feeling it in the first quarter. Al Horford rejected Max Strus at the rim, and that block turned into some easy transition points for Grant Williams to put the Celtics on top 22-9.
Boston got 11 of its first 22 points on the fast break.
The Heat woke up shortly after that Boston hoop and went on an 8-0 run. Tatum blew a 3-on-1 opportunity, which turned into an easy bucket for Butler, and Gabe Vincent knocked down a three as he was fouled by Horford. After Vincent hit his free throw, Miami turned a Brown miss into another Butler layup to cut it to 24-17.
The Celtics answered, with Derrick White and Tatum knocking down threes and Brown hitting a floater, as Boston closed the quarter on an 8-0 run of their own. The Celtics had 13 fast break points in the quarter to tie their season-high. It was close to a perfect start for Boston, and the Celtics led 32-17 after the first 12 minutes.
The Celtics kept sending Butler to the line early in the second quarter and the Heat cut the lead to single digits when Bam Adebayo put in his own miss to make it 41-32. But Tatum made a nice driving layup and Smart hit a 9-foot floater off a great feed by Tatum (who faked a three at the top of the key) to push the lead to 13 and force a Miami timeout. The Celtics led by as many as 17 in the second quarter.
But the Boston offense went stale late, and the defense let Butler walk into an open three after a Tatum miss to make it a 53-44 game with 1:26 in the half. The Celtics missed their four of their last five shots of the quarter while the Heat started to hit their free throws, and Miami closed the half on an 11-2 run to cut Boston’s lead to just six, 55-49.
After Miami cut it to a two-point game (at least at the time) early in the third, the Celtics rattled off a 7-0 run. Smart capped it off by draining a tough three to finish an ugly, shaky possession by the Celtics to give them a 63-54 edge. They even caught a break as a Strus three from early in the quarter was taken off the board retroactively after it was determined he stepped out of bounds before hitting the shot.
Smart drained another three off a nice feed by Brown, who drew four Miami defenders with a drive to the hoop, to give the Celtics a 72-58 lead with 6:46 left in the frame.
But the Heat just wouldn’t go away. They scored the next seven points, capped off by a Victor Oladipo three after Tatum missed a put-back, to cut Boston’s lead back to seven, 72-65. The Celtics outscored the Heat 27-26 in the quarter, but their seven-point lead heading into the fourth didn’t feel safe the way Miami played in the third.
A Butler layup after a Rob Williams turnover made it a one-possession game, 82-79, early in the fourth quarter. But Tatum hit a pair off free throws, and then made a gorgeous feed to Grant Williams for an easy layup for his sixth assists of the night, to build Boston’s lead back up to seven, 86-79.
The Celtics defense locked down and forced Miami to miss nine straight shots, and Boston rattled off an 8-0 run. The Celtics went up 90-79 when Smart put in a floater with 6:36 on the clock. Tatum hit a tough fade out of an inbound at the shot clock to put Boston back on top by 10, 95-85, with 4:28 to play.
Miami made it really interesting in the final minutes. Kyle Lowry made a driving layup with just over a minute left, part of an 8-0 Heat run, to make it a 98-93 game.
Brown was then whistled for an offensive foul on a drive into Adebayo, and Boston’s challenge was unsuccessful. Miami had the ball down five with 52.4 seconds left, and Strus hit a three to make it a 98-96 game with 44.4 seconds left.
Smart missed on the other end, but Butler missed a potential go-ahead three with 29.4 seconds left.
Al Horford pulled down the rebound, and Smart hit two free throws with 11.4 seconds left to seal the win for Boston.
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