The first great surprise in the NBA playoffs was carried out by the Miami Heat: they beat the Boston Celtics as a visitor, the best team of the regular season and tied the series 1-1. For its part, Oklahoma City Thunderthe best in the Western Conference, once again demonstrated its superiority over New Orleans Pelicans and achieved the second victory in the tie.
Miami Heat connected on 23 three-pointers this Wednesday and gave the surprise by beating the Boston Celtics, dominating the season, 111-101 as a visitor, to tie the series 1-1 of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and take home advantage.
After overwhelming Miami in the first game, against a rival without its leader Jimmy Butler, the Celtics came out as clear favorites at TD Garden, but Erik Spoelstra’s team stood up with an astonishing 53% in three-point shots and He established his new record for three-pointers in the playoffs.
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The Heat, who silenced the TD Garden last year with a great victory in the seventh game of the Conference finals, will return to Miami with a 1-1 tie in the series, which will have its next two chapters in Florida this Saturday and Monday .
The Heat’s starting quintet finished with double figures and three players surpassed 20 points. Tyler Herro He was the leading scorer with 24 points and six triples, in addition to distributing 14 assists.
Caleb Martin He contributed 21 with a tremendous 5 of 6 from the arc; Bam Adebayo He achieved a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jaime Jáquez contributed 14 points and made three triples. Nikola Jovic contributed 11 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
To the rain of triples, the Heat added a tremendous defensive effort that completely nullified the Latvian Kristaps Porzingis, who barely scored 6 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, with 1 of 9 field goals.
The Celtics reached the playoffs with an extraordinary record of 64-18 in the regular season and 37-4 at the Garden, but they couldn’t this Wednesday due to Spoelstra’s approach.
Those from Boston now have seven defeats in their last eleven postseason games played at home.
Jaylen Brown was the leading scorer with 33 points and Jayson Tatum scored 28 points and captured 8 rebounds, but the Celtics suffered against a Heat that punished by relying on Adebayo in the post and converting with astonishing ease from the free throw line.
Derrick White didn’t shine either and only took eight shots. He finished with 13 points and 4 assists on a night in which Jrue Holiday only scored 9 points.
The Celtics went from the 22 three-pointers with which they crushed the Heat in the first game to a modest 12 of 32 in the second game.
This Wednesday was the Heat’s first victory this season against the Celtics, after four losses, but this victory boosts their confidence ahead of the next two games in Miami.
And Spoelstra’s men faced this series with the illustrious absences of Jimmy Butler, who suffered a knee injury in the play-in, and Terry Rozier, who has neck problems.
The Heat had to go through two play-in rounds to earn access to the playoffs. They lost against the Philadelphia 76ers and overcame the decisive duel against the Chicago Bulls.
Last year Miami reached the NBA Finals after also starting from the play-in.
Oklahoma City Thunder gave a test of strength this Wednesday and beat the New Orleans Pelicans 124-92 with authority to take a 2-0 lead in the series first round of the West playoffs.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderone of the three finalists for MVP along with the Serbian Nikola Jokic and the Slovenian Luka Doncic, led the Thunder’s victory with 33 points and a brilliant 13 of 19 in field goals.
The Thunder’s starting quintet finished with double figures. Chet Holmgren contributed 26 points (9 of 13 from the field), three triples and 7 rebounds. Additionally, Jalen Williams had a solid game with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.
Those from Oklahoma City did not give the Pelicans any options without Zion Williamson, who was injured in the play-in.
Jonas Valanciunas was the Pelicans’ leading scorer with 19 points, while Brandon Ingram and Herbert Jones scored 18 each. CJ McCollum scored 15 on a bad night from the three-point line for his team, which only connected on 7 of 26 attempts.
Puerto Rican José Alvarado did not score points for the Pelicans and finished 0 of 5 from the field.
The Thunder nearly shot 60% from the field and shone with 14 of 29 three-pointers.
They will now travel to New Orleans with a 2-0 lead in the series for the next two games to be played on Saturday and Monday.
