The Heat humiliated the Boston Celtics this Sunday by beating them 128-102 in Miami and are only one victory away from reaching the NBA Finals, since they are 3-0 up in the series despite reaching these playoffs as eighth del Este and having to play the play-in.
These fascinating and highly deserving Heat are about to become the second team in NBA history to reach the Finals as eighth in their conference. The previous precedent was in 1999, when the New York Knicks fell against the San Antonio Spurs (4-1).
After sweeping Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, the best team in the league in the regular season, and the New York Knicks along the way, the Heat ridiculed a very disappointing Celtics, with morale on the ground and with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown missing.
Like the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western final against the Denver Nuggets, the Celtics can now only aspire to an unprecedented miracle since no team in the NBA managed to come back from 0-3. The balance is 149-0 for the teams that dominated the tie with that score.
By the way, the Heat, despite having injured Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, are just one win away from closing a sweet revenge since the Celtics eliminated them in the 2022 Eastern final after seven games.
In their unappealable and enormous victory in the third game, Miami, which was already leading by 33 points in the third game, did not even need an extraordinary version of Jimmy Butler, who contributed 16 points (5/13 in field goals), eight rebounds and six assists.
Instead, it was a triumph of a seamless block and wonderfully blended (impressive 19/35 on 3-pointers) with five other players with more than 10 points and with a very prominent name: a sensational Gabe Vincent with 29 points (his record of scoring) and a fantastic 11/14 shooting from the field with six 3-pointers in nine attempts.
The only bad news for the locals was the injury to Kevin Love, who left the game in the first quarter due to a sore left ankle and never returned to the field. It is a doubt for the fourth final, which will be this Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. in Uruguay.
In a hopeless Celtics (11/42 on 3-pointers), without pride or ability to react and who reserved their stars in the last quarter, Tatum collapsed with 14 points (6/18 on shots, 1/7 on 3-pointers) and Brown he also failed with 12 points (6/17 on field goals and 0/7 on 3-pointers).
EFE / SoccerOops
2023-05-22 11:04:12
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